New World, New Crystal, New Ragnarok
by BiJane
Summary: Set four years or so post game. Pulse survivors found, living in Cocoon City on Gran Pulse, under Governor Bartholomew Estheim who is doing his best to defuse the racial tensions. But is more going on than they think?  Naturally, contains spoilers.
1. The Rally

**Just an intro, but I added the beginning of the story. A Hope centred story, written in a similar style to a Final Fantasy. **

??? POV

_**New world**_

_I suppose it was. Those who dwelled in Cocoon now resided on Gran Pulse, salvaging what they could from their new home. Now there were cities to rival the ancient Gran Pulsian civilizations, lead by Governor Bartholomew Estheim._

_**New crystal**_

_Now Cocoon was suspended by two l'Cie in crystal sleep. Both came from the village of Oerba, as I remembered. And they had saved many lives in their journey so long ago. The citizens of Gran Pulse hadn't died; they'd started hiding. And now they could come out from beneath the ground, beneath the rocks and dirt, and walk in the light again. Now many would awake from crystal sleep, to live in supposed harmony with the Cocoon dwellers._

_**New Ragnarok**_

_Oh, how I wished it wasn't so. But there was friction between the two factions: those hailing from Gran Pulse, and those hailing from Cocoon. They lived in the same cities, but not all were happy. And some would sooner bring the sky down than release their life long hatred._

Hope's POV

Ok, so Dad was now the new Primarch. Well, Governor, we'd left behind the old ways. He took a much more hands-on approach than the old Sanctum. When he could, he'd leave the stuffy offices and walk through the streets, promoting the need for peace we all felt but could never act on.

Almost every day, Cocoon natives and the awoken, unbranded l'Cie and cave dwellers of Pulse would clash. Neither side hade the morale advantage: they just held huge rallies, yelling slurs and attacks on the 'pets' from Cocoon, or the 'savages' from Pulse. Well, Gran Pulse.

"Stop this now!" Dad strode through the crowd, hands held high. The advisers had tried to get him to wear special robes like Dysley had, but he wasn't having that. He stuck with his normal suit, wearing a gold ring as a symbol of his Governorship. The ring had, etched onto it, a stylized representation of Cocoon held eternally aloft by Fang and Vanille.

The crowd yelled, spitting and screeching. I kept my distance, watching from the fringes of the crowd as Dad split the crowd. He made his way on to a raised platform, taking the microphone from the pro-Cocoon leader denouncing the 'savages'.

Dad opened his mouth as if to speak into the microphone. And for that instant, it looked like everything was going to be fine, like it had been all those times before.

But then all hell broke loose.

An explosion roared, ripping the podium up through the ground and sending splinters of wood through the air. I pushed my way past the crowd, watching Dad be flung several metres into the air in the forceful bang. "Dad!" I yelled, voice sounding more like the child I was the four years ago during the l'Cie incident. "Dad!"

"It's the savages, you hear me?!" some idiot in the crowd was already blaming it on Gran Pulse. There was a roar of assent, but by now I didn't care. I was focusing on something else.

"Dad!" my shouts quietened as I reached where he lay, bruised and bleeding on the stone ground. He opened his eyes weakly, peering at me.

"Someone get him to a hospital!" I looked around, frantic, shouting. The crowd looked at me as if I was mad.

"You fools! Listen to him!" a woman ran from behind the wreckage of the stage destroyed by the bomb.

"Your kind ain't welcome here" an indistinct face snarled at the newcomer. "Savage."

It was then I looked at her; she had slightly tanned skin, and spoke with an odd accent, like Vanille. She was from Gran Pulse: not the best person to be in this crowd of Pulse-haters.

"Savage or not" she stayed calm, speaking quickly and quietly into the attacker's face, "I'm not the one about to let an innocent man die. So if you want to go on hating, feel free. But remember, that makes you a murderer. That makes you the savage, not me" she turned, walking towards me and away from the speechless Cocoon activist.

"You sure showed him" I whispered, as she helped me stop Dad bleeding while the people in the crowd huddled up, some calling a hospital presumably.

"Your Dad's been helping us a lot. I guess it's time we returned the favour" she smiled up at me, still bandaging dad's arm with a ripped sleeve.

I paused momentarily, thrown. I looked nothing like Dad: I had silver hair rather than brown. But I guess she would've seen the papers. I wasn't a common photo feature, but it was nice to know I wasn't completely ignored.

"What's your name?" I asked, pausing as I looked at her.

"Oerba Dia Asura, Asura if you want to save time" she gave a small chuckle before exclaiming, "there!" she sat back, watching as Dad's blood slowed its trickle, slowing the growth of the pool on the ground. "I hope he lives…Hope"

"We live in hope" I nodded, smiling at the pun, back.

She was called Oerba Dia?

I shook off the thought, hearing the ambulance arrive to transport Dad to the hospital. I guess I wouldn't be able to talk to Asura again; after all, in a city this big what were the chances of meeting up again?

**Believe it or not, this will be continued. The current plan is to give it 13 parts, so stay tuned!**


	2. The Aftermath

**Here's the next bit. Still just introducing the characters, and it might seem like some bits are odd/missing. But they're explained later...**

Asura's POV

Oh. My. God.

Had I really just met Hope? Hope Estheim? Son of Governor Bartholomew Estheim, leading proponent of GPE: Gran Pulse Equality?

He's nicer than I thought he would be, nicer than the normal higher-ups.

I'd had a feeling that I should go there, if only someone had told me about the Pets' rally, well, Cocoon rally. Better start respecting them: this is Cocoon City after all, even if it was on our home.

I hadn't been expecting the terrorist attack though, nor had I been expecting to see Hope Estheim. Oh god, did he think I had something to do with the terrorists? I didn't though; I honestly didn't. Did he think that though?

Calm down Asura, calm down. I laughed at my own stupidity.

I had to tell him though.

The thought pretty much came out of nowhere; not that I was complaining, t I suddenly felt an urge to go see Hope, tell him I wasn't responsible. Hee, if it meant seeing him again… He was some public figure, even if he didn't realize it. A younger face on an older issue; Gran Pulse was always hated by Cocoon, but this child, Hope, provided, well, hope. Maybe by the next generation there'd be sanity.

Cheer up Asura, you're being too serious.

I laughed. Well, to see Hope any way, that was something. I made a start to leave the street, to the Cavalry Memorial Hospital where I think Bartholomew was taken.

"Where you going, savage?" a grunt out of the crowd spat at me. I shrunk back. I so did not want to be here.

"Just trying to get out. Don't want trouble" I did my best to stop my voice shaking. Pulsephobes.

"Pity you found trouble then isn't it?" a new faceless person walked out from the mob. And another. And another. They poured around the shattered stage, moving closer and closer.

I looked around. No one. Hope had left with his father (why oh why hadn't I?) and the view of the way out had been swallowed by the angry crowd. A crowd chanting with bloodlust at the attack on their rally.

"Stop!" I shrieked as a berserk Pro-Cocoon moron swung a fist. I stepped back, shouting as another grabbed my hair from behind. I shouted in pain.

"Savage. Savage. Savage. Savage" the cacophony of hateful voices intensified, countless men, women and even children infected by blind fear working as one. I screamed¸ trying to bat them away with empty hands.

Hope's POV

"Dad" I croaked, feeling like a kid again.

"Hope" he lightly lifted a finger, bandaged beyond recognition and lying in the hospital bed. The doctors had said he was suffering from bruising, cuts, several broken bones in his right leg-the one he'd landed on-possible concussion, burns of some degree and, worst of all, a broken rib puncturing his lung. The doctors had operated, doing what they could, but they still weren't completely sure.

I didn't care about the technicalities, but I needed him to live. We'd grown closer in the last four years. I couldn't face losing him.

"Did they stop the rally?" Dad murmured, hoarse. That was him: always trying to stop the hate. He didn't care about himself.

"Yeah, I think so" I nodded, unsure of what to say. I wasn't at the rally towards the end, but I'd of hoped a bomb going off would stop them.

I flicked a remote control switch near Dad's bed, turning the manavision (A/N: Television) on. Images recorded from the bomb site flickered up, the news displaying the site of the rally.

"Dear Pulse" Dad whispered, shocked. I was a little surprised myself: Dad never cussed, though I didn't blame him. Little of the street was left; the road had worn away, the buildings to the side were crumbling but still just about together, but rubble was strewn across the site. The stage had turned to little more than ash. Surely the bomb hadn't done that much?

"The rally stopped" I muttered weakly, hollow.

Dad gave a smile with a great deal of effort, his dark brown hair being pulled with the movement. He let out a small gasp as he pulled a cut.

A loud beeping suddenly filled the room. I looked around, feeling helpless, as Dad screwed his eyes up, breathing shallowly, in pain. Doctors swarmed into the room. I caught a few snippets of phrases as I was herded out: "stitches didn't hold" "have to operate again" "Low survival chance."

I sat down in the waiting room outside, still in shock. From what I could tell, the stitches on his lungs hadn't held in place from where they'd removed the rib, and they had to operate again, hopefully sealing the hole permanently.

"Hiya Hope" a woman sat down next to me. She had dark, black hair, pale orange strands around the back and sides though it didn't appear dyed. Her skin was slightly tanned, not too much, and had piercing green eyes. She was wearing a pale red and blue drape, going over one shoulder and around her waist, with fur from some ancient Pulse animal lining the edges.

"Oerba Dia Asura" I identified, nodding at her.

"Just Asura, didn't I say?" she shrugged.

"Did you see what caused the second explosion?" I tried to distract myself, remembering the bomb site.

"Nah, I left before that" she looked down at her hands. "Why're you so glum?" she looked up, leaning close, eerily reminiscent of Vanille.

"Dad's in there" I pointed my head to the surgery room.

"Oh, I'm sorry" She leapt back as if shocked, hands over her mouth, genuinely surprised. "I didn't think it was that bad"

"It's just…" I stooped, tears blurring my vision. I guess I hadn't grown as much as I'd hoped. "He's all I've got now; he's my Dad really and" I stopped, tears trickling down my cheeks by now.

"There, there" Asura patted my head, trying to be comforting. I felt younger, like a child. All those years experience meant nothing after all: still just a kid whenever someone I knew was threatened.

"I don't want my Dad to…" I couldn't finish the sentence.

"I know. It feels like you won't live; he's all you have. A Sun, and when he goes out, darkness" Asura recited the words as if by rote, still injecting emotion, flooding each syllable. I looked at her through my tears. That was exactly how I felt.

"You can't see life past him. But believe me, there is" she looked directly at me, voice sounding more meaningful. "You'll live without your parents: it's hard to imagine, but you can, believe me. I lost my parents too" she looked down to the floor.

I glanced at her, surprised, partly to find that my tears had stopped, but partly to see a similar sadness in her eyes.

"Oerba Dia" I murmured

"It's Asura" she sighed

"No, I meant I knew someone else called Oerba Dia"

"So has most of the world" Asura laughed; "Good old Mom"

"Mom?" I turned sharply

"Oerba Dia Vanille. My mother; I was in crystal stasis too, in Anima's Vestige. Never managed to get out until it landed in that lake"

"You were a l'Cie?"

"Don't look so surprised. So're most of the Gran Pulse survivors; I just went with Mom; wasn't that old at the time of course, but I did my Focus and slept in the same Vestige. Common practice back then" she seemed almost nostalgic, "everyone who had a l'Cie relative became l'Cie themselves, just to go into crystal sleep together. Didn't always end well"

"I know. Back when Cocoon was still up, I completed some of the Cie'th stones"

"Good for you" Asura smiled.

I wasn't sure what else to say, so I just looked awkwardly at the sign above Dad's door. It was still red: surgery in progress.

With a beep, it flashed and turned green. A surgeon, still wearing the smock and mask, walked out, stretching.

"Hope Estheim" she called

"Yes?" I got up, leaving Asura

"Your Dad's stable, but he's sleeping. You should go, get some rest; come back in a few hours. He should be awake by then" the surgeon smiled; "Believe me, we've done all we can."

"Got it" I nodded, watching the surgeon go.

I took one last glance at the green, shining sign. A few hours until he'd wake up. Until then, I guess.

"Nice seeing you again" Asura bounced over, giving a forced smile.

I nodded, surprising myself and smiling back, before I walked out of the hospital. I made it a few streets away before being surrounded by shouts and catcalls.

Another anti-Pulse rally. Not again.

**To 'giant squid of anger' reviewer: read the line in bold at the start of this story and if you finish the game you'll see S****erah and Dajh awoke from crystal sleep. Why not the other Pulse l'Cie? Oh. and Vanille is 19.**


	3. The Reckoning

**Still developing characters, and just thought I'd give you an insight into the politics. **

Hope's POV

"Why are you doing this?" I yelled, running through the crowd. The mob looked at me as I was stupid. They shouted the word 'savages' as if it was a battle cry, and a man on a distant stage shouted slurs and attacks on Gran Pulse.

"We are from Cocoon!" the figure on the platform lifted a clenched fist to a cheering rabble, "That fact has not changed. It never will: we are of Cocoon. We had fal'Cie bending to our will, from power sources to gates. We ruled over these fal'Cie. But what did Pulse savages do? They turned their world to hell and let themselves fall subject to fal'Cie whim; run when the Atomos comes, stay away from Dahaka, and let Anima rule your village. But we, we are superior. We owned Eden. We had a fal'Cie star. For our benefit, not theirs. We are superior to fal'Cie and Pulse savages." The man paused as the crowd cheered. I pushed my way through more people, needing to speak up. These people were betraying the very thing my Dad had almost died for.

"We!" the man began, shouting, staccato. "Are!" I slipped between the front row of the crowd.

"Superior!" the figure on the stage, barely a metre away, shouted out into the frenzied crowd.

I clambered up onto the stage, pushing him out the way. While my father was in hospital, Cocoon City needed some voice of peace. I guess the son of the Governor would work well enough.

"That's not true!" I shouted into the microphone, knocking the speaker out of the way. A ripple of anger passed through the crowd.

"My name is Hope Estheim: I am the son of Governor Bartholomew Estheim, who was put in hospital by a bomb. He was only hurt because he spoke of peace: he is lying unconscious right now, because he thinks we should have peace." I felt like I had four years ago; I was able to speak out, speak my mind again, rather than sit in the shadows and hope.

"What have the savages ever done for us?" some nameless voice in the crowd yelled to a roar of approval.

"Look over there" I pointed to Cocoon; "Our old home was prevented from falling by two l'Cie from Gran Pulse. Branded by a Pulse fal'Cie, to destroy Cocoon, they saved it instead. I knew them: their names were Vanille and Fang, and we owe them our lives. We owe our lives to two l'Cie, no, two people from Gran Pulse. Like it or not, that's a fact. If you don't like it, taker them away and watch Cocoon fall" I stepped back from the microphone, panic seizing at my chest. The crowd was muted somewhat, but that didn't stop stage fright.

It was times like this I wished I was l'Cie again, just to have the magic, the simple sense of security it provided. Any one of these people could throw a rock and hurt me. Or there could be another bomb.

I stepped off the stage, acting confident as I walked down the street, away from the rabble, hiding the sick fear I truly felt. How did they have the nerve to call Vanille and other Gran Pulsians savages, when they were the ones acting savagely? It didn't matter where you were born, it only mattered how you lived. And saving billions would never count as savage.

"Well said" a Gran Pulsian jumped off a ridge in the wall.

"Hey Asura" I turned, smiling. "Thanks"

"You can stop it now" she walked next to me

"Stop what?" I asked, looking into her green eyes, genuinely mystified.

"Pretending. You're easy to read, y'know that?" she laughed. "You're afraid that if you stop for a moment, stop being brave, and if you turn your back for a second, poof, Cocoon's gonna dissolve into chaos. Not going to happen"

She was smiling, but I looked away, shaken. That was exactly how I felt, and I hadn't even realized until she said it.

"Someone needs to help" I shrugged, trying to seem indifferent.

A few more shouts entered our hearing. Asura ran up past the next street corner and looked down into the centre of the road. Another rally. I ran up, looking at the rabble too.

"Mind you" Asura sighed, "my lot aren't much better"

It was then I read the banners and signs being waved: 'Pets', 'Children Of fal'Cie Whim'…

These were the Gran Pulse uber-patriots, trying to expel Cocoon from Gran Pulse. Like the pro-Cocoon idiots, but supporting the removal of Cocoon citizen rights and the superiority of Gran Pulsians.

"You might want to say here" Asura bit her lip

"You kidding? You faced off the crowd back at that pro-Cocoon rally, I think I can do the same" I looked at her, then at the mob. Ok, maybe it wasn't such a good idea, but I needed to find a plan and stick to it, as I learnt all those years ago. Peace. Operation Bartholomew, in honour of Operation Nora.

Asura lead me through the crowd, arms outstretched, warding off the screeching and spitting crowd as we trekked to the central stage. It bore the representation of Fang and Vanille in crystal; sleep. I felt a surge of anger; how dare they use those two in support of hate!

"Stop it!" I yelled, slightly mad, leaving Asura behind as I ran up onto the stage and slashed the two images to pieces with my boomerang weapon. "I knew Fang and Vanille, and let me tell you, this isn't what they wanted. They could've let Cocoon fall, but they didn't. Why would they save us if they hated us?"

"They saved Gran Pulse" some faceless person in the crowd yelled; "The pets of the fal'Cie up in Cocoon needed Gran Pulse l'Cie to live past the setting of their fal'Cie Sun"

"Why do you think she'd save Cocoon?" Asura leapt up onto the stage next to me, giving me a grateful smile. "Oerba Dia Vanille was my Mom: and I know for a fact that she wouldn't want you to be attacking the people she saved. They call you savages: prove to me you're not"

"They wouldn't even live without the fal'Cie." Another face in the crowd exclaimed.

"I was once a Pulse l'Cie" I blurted out, hushing the crowd. "I was with Vanille when we, no, when she saved Cocoon. We both had the same Focus: so if we were equal in the eyes of the fal'Cie, a force of nature, why aren't we equal to you?"

"Pet scum!" A berserk frenzy of voices spread through the mob. I shrank back as a brick was flung at the stage.

"Stop!" Asura yelled. Her voice, for that brief moment, was almost exactly like Vanille's. "If you won't listen to him, listen to me. I am Oerba Dia Asura, and as I said Vanille was my mother. I am her daughter, I never really met her, and now she's in crystal sleep. As good as dead to the world: and because of Cocoon. She saved them. She saved them!" Asura repeated herself, struggling to be heard over the crowd.

"Vanille had no daughter!" a woman in the crowd cried, throwing a stone herself.

"Didn't go so well" I shot an apologetic look towards Asura as a rain of stone and rocks came down on us.

"Sure you're not still a l'Cie?" Aura laughed slightly; "Would come in handy"

"Afraid not" I raised my hands over my head, shielding my face as I followed Asura off the back of the platform, weaving through the frenzied rabble.

Sustaining only a few cuts and bruises, we managed to escape the mob. Panting a few streets away, we looked at each other, relieved and scared.

"Do you know what she meant?" I panted, asking Asura, hands on my knees, "that Vanille had no daughter?"

"Nope" Asura sighed. "Guess it's just hard to believe. She's a bit of an idol to people, I suppose they don't really think of those figures having kids"

"You do look a lot like her" I commented, noticing the colour of the streaks in her hair; exactly the same shade as Vanille. Her eyes had the same glimmering quality, and even her dress had patches of the same pinkish colour.

"I wouldn't know" she sighed; "I was barely a year old when she went into crystal sleep. I grew up and accepted a Focus just to sleep and be able to see her again"

"I wish we could" I closed my eyes, running my hand through my hair.

A deafening boom sounded in the distance. It sounded familiar. It took me a moment to place it, then I realized.

It was the same sound as the bomb which hurt Dad.


	4. The Memories

Asura's POV

"A bomb!" Hope exclaimed. I followed him as he ran, pretty bravely I could add, back to the Gran Pulse rally.

Was there ever a dull moment with him?

The site of the rally was littered with rubble. The stage we'd stood on minutes ago was charred and barely recognizable and while a fair bit of the mob had fled, plenty was still here. It was a scary thought: we'd almost suffered the same fate as Governor Estheim.

"We need to help them!" I shouted, frantic. I recognized a few of them, not too many, but I saw other had-been l'Cie: plenty, like me, branded by Anima. Most of the others were before my time; being crystallized billions of years before I was even born. I even saw the l'Cie I'd thought of as idols. Now they looked terrible, attacked whilst spreading hatred. Times change. A lot.

"You ok?" Hope knelt by some other Gran Pulse protester, using whatever first aid training he had. I couldn't remember too much of that, but I'd been taught some remedies back in the day. God I sounded old.

"You mind?" I tugged gently on a bloodstained, torn jacket sleeve, looking at my patient: a youngish Gran Pulse inhabitant, skin very dark. That meant he was-I searched my memories-from up North. We'd heard of a few tribes, scattered and small, surviving up there, so he might've been one of the rare, hiding never-l'Cie Pulse survivors.

"Feel free" he remarked, heavily accented.

I ripped the rest of the sleeve off, tying a tight bandage over the wound.

"Did you mean what you said?" the man asked, wincing, "about being the daughter of the Chosen Vanille?"

"Yep" I nodded, checking his body for any more wounds.

"Strange, but I never heard of Vanille conceiving"

"Everyone says that" I laughed a little; "I am her daughter though" That was one thing I was sure of. Oerba Dia Asura. Daughter of Vanille.

"We can't just believe you at face value"

"I've been told I look like her, and I'd be all too happy to do a genetic test if you can get a sample of her DNA"

"Who's your father?" The thick accented voice of the man caught me off guard.

"What?" I muttered, bandaging a wound on his knee.

"If you're her daughter, then who was the father?"

I felt an odd urge to say Fang, but I shook it off, unsure of where it came from.

"I don't know" I sighed; yet another thing I never learnt about mom: "She died when I was one. I never knew her"

"I'll give you one thing" the man got to his feet, grimacing slightly, "you're the most convincing performer I've seen"

"It's no performance" I groaned, watching the patient limp away. "It's who I am." Why did no one believe me? I felt like a kid swearing blindly that they'd seen the monster under the bed. It was just my word, and with so many preconceptions…

I turned, to see Hope staring at me.

"Do you mind?" I asked, mildly irked, before laughing at his guilty face. Caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Sorry" he blushed slightly, "it's just, well, you look a lot like her" he shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant.

"Thanks" I grinned back.

Hope's POV

I walked through the injured crowd, shoulders sagging when the ones that could crawled away. Where they so afraid that, even this injured, they'd flee from anyone Cocoon citizen? I shot a quick glance at Asura; she was already working on one guy.

"Some of us would like help, y'know?" a wheezing voice came from one man lying on the floor. His garb, a series of jacket like drapes, were ripped and torn, and his chest was incredibly grazed.

"I hope so" I murmured, kneeling next to the Pulsian activist.

"Hope, is it? I'm Sollo. Oerba Del Sollo if you're being fussy"

"Oerba?" I queried

"Yep. We lived near our own fal'Cie remember? Anima. That's why plenty of us survived: getting a Focus in a few steps and then sleeping" he laughed a little, gasping as I knotted my bandanna over a gash in his elbow.

"Traitor" some face in the sore mob groaned, lying on the ground, in too much pain to get up like most of the activists.

"You're not like the rest" I commented

"I accept help wherever it comes from, pet or otherwise. Hey, don't look at me like that. You made a statement, a good point if I'm honest. Besides, you once served Gran Pulse: you carried the same brand as me. I can recognize a kindred spirit"

"Thanks" I nodded

"Though I wouldn't be too sure about that friend of yours, Asura, right? I can tell you one thing; I lived in that era, I even followed Vanille for a day or so when she was a l'Cie. I lived in the same village as her right from when she was a teenager. One thing I am certain of, is that she never carried, much less had, a child" Sollo glared into my eyes.

I bandaged a separate wound, somewhat tighter than I intended.

"Ow! Alright, don't believe me?" Sollo seemed exasperated, "tell you what, come see me once you finish here. I'll be at 46 New Sunleth if you're interested. I've got something you might want to see." Sollo sighed, getting to his feet slowly, "Good job, by the way" he looked at the bandages, one being the now bloodstained bandanna I usually had around my neck.

I watched him pace off, sighing a little. Everyone found it so hard to believe Vanille was a mother and yes, while she never mentioned Asura, Asura was just too similar to Vanille for it to be dismissed on coincidence alone.

I looked at Asura, aware I was staring but not stopping. There was just something enchanting about watching her comfort the stranger, helping him recover.

"Do you mind?" She turned around quickly, irate

"Ah, um, sorry" I blushed, trying not to make a fool of myself, "it's just, well, you look a lot like her"

"Thanks" her mood quickly flipped until she had a broad grin. I relaxed, slightly less embarrassed now.

Bang.

I whirled around, looking over the few remnants of the Pulse crowd, wounded and groaning on the ground. Looking past the men, women and children that were already leaving. Looking past Asura, as she stood upright, black and red hair frozen as if in fear.

A bullet embedded itself in the stone ground between us.

Asura span around, seeing the barrel of a gun poking out from a window pane. The person holding the gun shifted the weapon slightly, pointing in our general; direction. I darted out of the way, Asura running the other way. It followed Asura, pointing straight at her.

Bang.

No bullet came from that gun; instead, someone else fired at the window holding the sniper. In a blur of pink and white, a woman leapt and fired several gun shots from a weapon resembling a sword, straight at the sniper. When she was satisfied the sniper had stopped, she turned and looked at me.

"They said I'd find you here. Like father like son, hm?" she seemed annoyed, but I could see past that façade.

"Thanks Mom" I grinned.

"Mom? Mrs Estheim?" Asura frowned looking from me to her.

"Not by a long shot" the pink haired woman laughed; "Hope just calls me that. You can call me Lightning."

"Thanks Light" I grinned, thanking her again.

"Such gratitude. You wouldn't need my help if your friend wasn't being hunted" she sighed dismissively

"What?" Asura stumbled

"You can't tell me you didn't notice. That sniper was aiming for you, and two bombs have gone off at rallies you were just at. A Pulse and a Cocoon rally"

"Could you look after her? I need to see someone" I thought of Sollo, unsure of why I felt the need to see him. I guess I was just curious about Asura after all.

"She's not as scary as she looks" I whispered to Asura.

"I hope not" she murmured back. "But why am I being hunted?" Asura seemed to have become instantly serious, as opposed to her normal cheerfulness.

"Vanille's daughter, so I've heard. Bound to raise a few eyebrows" Lightning finished surveying the rally, before sheathing her weapon. The victims of the bomb were to injured and weak to protest against another Cocoon citizen.

"I guess so" Asura seemed somehow muted.

I watched the two of them walk off together. I suppressed the guilty excitement I was feeling, trying not to seem suspicious as I loitered. I just needed them so I could go to… New Sunleth wasn't it? Sollo said he had something I needed to see. And frankly I was curious.

It took a little while to navigate the streets of Cocoon City. In the last four years much of the wildness of Pulse had been removed, and Cocoon City was a sturdy, pretty well built capital of the empire spreading across Pulse, but to me it just never seemed right. I knew Pulse as it was: Gran Pulse. It was stunning. We'd seen wyverns and Adamantoises ruling the plain, and the huge simplicity of the natural field. But now it had all become artificial: long, winding roads leading to nowhere, a condensed representation of Cocoon. Which meant, past the Vile Peaks Junkyard, round a few alleyways, and there was the road taking its name from Sunleth Waterscape: New Sunleth.

Sollo had said 46, right? I walked down the smooth, grey street, watching a few bikes shoot by. By the time I'd reached number 41, the stream of bikes had subsided, so I quickly darted across the road, walking ahead a little and seeing number 44. Next to it, on a deep, dark green door, were the golden, ornate numbers 46.

I knocked on the door twice, hearing the hollow noise echo slightly.

I heard a rustle and a few murmurs. The door slowly opened, Sollo peering through the crack. "Hope!" He nodded, looking around outside hastily. Good, come in then, quickly"

I followed his instruction, slightly disturbed by how paranoid he appeared by having a Cocoon citizen on his doorstep. Inside his house, it was dark and slightly musty, the smell of dry paper invading the air. I followed Sollo through the thin corridor, reaching a wide room a few steps down the brownish path. The room was circular, a lone chair sitting in the centre, surrounded by huge whitewashed walls. The walls were virtually completely covered with scraps of paper.

"It's my Focus" Sollo smiled, almost nostalgic, hooking a thin wire frame pair of glasses over his ears. "Back then I had to protect the records. They detail every l'Cie ever created, and everyone who lived in Oerba: the other records are either lost of other once-l'Cie have them"

"So?" I looked from wall to wall, slightly taken aback by the volume of scrawled, inky writing and crumpled parchment.

"I've got details of every l'Cie made by every fal'Cie, from Anima to Titan. I never heard of Vanille having a child, and one thing I can tell you: she wasn't close to anyone. The apparent father never existed as best I can tell. There was no sign of a relationship in Oerba, and you can look at those records" Sollo pointed to the row of flip charts along the wall. I looked at them, seeing the names of fal'Cie written at the top. The sheaths of paper varied a great deal; some were barely more than one sheet long, such as the list of Titan's l'Cie, while some were split into several volumes. I moved across until I found the list of Anima's l'Cie, where I flicked through it. On the last but one page, at the very top, 'Vanille' and 'Fang' were written. I read down through the text, reading plenty of names I'd never seen before. I reached the end of the list of Anima's l'Cie.

Asura wasn't there.

"She could have just been branded by another fal'Cie" I tried to make an excuse, "Or maybe the records are incomplete"

"Believe me, these records are the real deal" Sollo looked up, over the rim of his glasses: "I went into crystal sleep over the top of these records. There's no way they could've been changed after I slept, and Anima had been taken from Gran Pulse by the time I fulfilled my Focus. See, I'm there" Sollo pointed to the second to last name on the list. 'Oerba Del Sollo.'

"Who's that?" I pointed to the last name on the list, or at least, the last name before it said 'Serah', 'Snow', 'Sazh', 'Lightning' and 'Hope'.

"A Cie'th I should guess. Her brand was as good as complete by the time I decided to fulfil my Focus by sleeping over the records."

I still wasn't convinced.

Sollo sighed: "If you want the honest truth, I don't think Asura has ever seen Oerba, I'm not totally sure she even existed back then. She may well have come from one of the Northern tribes, generation upon generation beneath the ground or atop the mountain, away from the prying eyes of Cocoon. Look at this" Sollo dragged me across the room, pointing to a floor-to-ceiling spread of crumpled paper. "Chronological order of every family in Oerba dating back twenty generations" Sollo pointed to Vanille's name. It marked the end of the list. "As best I can tell, Asura never existed."

"Maybe Vanille just never signed Asura up" I didn't know why I was so defensive of Asura's parenthood, it was just, well, she looked so much like Vanille. And really, I needed to know some of Vanille had survived.

"You still need proof?" Sollo sighed

"Well, yeah" I chuckled

"Very well then" Sollo knelt down, pushing the chair in the centre of the room back a metre. He lifted and scraped a floorboard away, revealing a thin compartment. Pressed in it were two clear, plastic satchels, both with a white sticker on. One read 'F', while the other said 'V'.

Sollo gave me the bag labelled 'V'. It contained a long strand of orange hair.

"It's the Chosen Vanille's" Sollo smiled, "When we found out Oerba had the Chosen l'Cie in, we took hair samples from both. A ritual really, some way to remember the two that gave their lives. They were kept with the records"

I looked at Sollo, slightly mystified.

"Get some hair of Asura, or something. Go to your fancy Cocoon vets: do whatever genetic tests you need to."

I nodded slowly, looking at Sollo, before he continued.

"For I can tell you one thing, which I am as certain of as I am of my own name. The chosen Oerba Dia Vanille never, ever conceived or delivered a child."


	5. The Deception

**And here the story really picks up. Hope you enjoy, and please review!**

Asura's POV

Ok, Hope was right. Lightning isn't as scary as she seems. She's actually quite nice, well, nice for a soldier. Apparently she sort of adopted Hope after the l'Cie incident four years ago. now she's some sort of leading figure in the New Cocoon Guardian Corps.

"You really Vanille's daughter?" she asked, sitting, back straight, facing the door of Hope's father's house. She didn't live here, but she had the key and it was a better place to wait apparently. The door opened onto Palumpolum District, but Lightning wasn't going to open it any time soon, some kind of paranoia/caution.

"God, is that all you people see?" I groaned, falling back. I was a little annoyed. I'd told Hope who I was and after saying it to a few others it was the one thing people thought of when they saw me. Forget being a Gran Pulsian, forget being, once, a l'Cie, I was only my mother's daughter. Stuck in her shadow.

"Sorry" Lightning shifted uncomfortably, unused to apologizing I guess. Hee, I'm not surprised.

Actually, I was pretty flattered that she'd apologized to me, how many people could say that? Lightning Farron apologized. Wow, I wish I had a camera.

"I am" I muttered, head still staring at the ceiling as I bent my neck back, hair falling straight back and down over the back of my chair.

There was a moment's pause. Lightning fidgeted a little: in four years, and she still couldn't take a moment's rest.

"What was she like?" I straightened my neck, tilting my head as I faced Lightning

"Who?"

"Mom. I never really met her"

"Vanille?" Lightning paused, "She was…fun, I guess. Impulsive, but fun. She always brought a smile to Hope's face"

"She sounds nice" I smiled softly, wishing.

The door to the house opened, being left open for a few seconds as Hope ran in. He lightly rested a hand on my head as he picked up a new bandanna from a rack on the wall. I felt a sharp pain on my head, as if he'd plucked a hair, before Hope quickly left the house. "Got to go" he smiled, tying the bandanna around his neck and shutting the door, leaving as quickly as he'd arrived. But something, like a strand of hair, caught the light, something gripped in his hand as he tied the bandanna.

What was he up to?

"He's busy today" Lightning looked almost wistfully at the door. She seemed almost motherly. Not surprising really, considering what Hope called her.

I looked around the room again, trying to find some topic for conversation. In one wall, a manavision was embedded, with plenty of discs either side of it. There was a long, rectangular table made by wood straight from Cocoon in the centre of the room. I was on the left, on a cushioned, gold and green chair, while Lightning sat on a black and red chair, one she'd moved away from the table so she could look out and spy on the front door.

The walls were fairly bare, except for a few paintings, most of spectacular sights on Cocoon at a guess, though I recognized a few images of Gran Pulse. A plank of wood was nailed on one wall, with Hope's bandannas hooked up on it.

"When did you meet Hope?" I asked, wondering how their bond formed

"I thought that would be common knowledge by now. Back when we were l'Cie, he lost his mother in Hanging Edge. I lost Serah there too. My sister" she added, just in case I was confused. "I just we just kind of needed each other"

"You always acted more like a mother than a sister to Serah" I murmured, unsure of where the thought came from. I'd only heard the sketchy myth-like tale of four years ago.

"I guess"

"You'd be proud of him. When I met him he was yelling at an entire crowd"

"That's just Hope. Give him a reason and he'll do anything"

"You can say that again!" I laughed, remembering his suppressed fear as he shouted at the crowd of militants. He'd have done anything to help his father. But it didn't take a genius to see how much he wished he was somewhere, anywhere else.

I got up, pacing across the room, slightly bored. I made it to the manavision before, almost subconsciously, resting my hand on the base of it and resting for a moment.

A quiet crumple caught my attention.

I knelt down, peering under the base of the manavision. Squeezed snugly between it and the wall was a small, screwed up piece of paper. I'd accidently pushed it in further when I rested my hand on it. Perhaps I'd subconsciously seen it, perhaps it was just luck, but there was a secret note just there.

I took a pencil from a nearby shelf, moving it into the thin gap. I played with the note, pressing it to the side of the wall, in a corner of the manavision. With a few more second's effort, I pulled the rolled up note out. I opened it, reading the scrawled writing:

_Estheim. _

_You tried and failed. You cannot protect the girl, you can but delay the inevitable. Rest assured we will find her, and that will be the end of it. You are no Governor to those you oppress. Cocoon pets will surrender to us. The end is coming._

_From The Surtr._

Surtr? What were 'The Surtr'?

All I knew was the identity of the girl it was chasing, the girl Governor Bartholomew was protecting. Me. Judging by how close Lightning was with the Governor, it also explained why Lightning was suddenly so interested in protecting me.

"Lightning?" I murmured, almost uncertain.

"Yes?" Lightning frowned, a slightly fearful look being directed to the paper in my hand.

"What is the Surtr?"

"You found the note" she stated, slightly annoyed. "Doesn't mean we have to come clean"

"It does" I stared at Lightning, half willing her to give in. "If I need protection from Surtr, whatever that is, I have a right to know what it is?"

"Not what, who" Lightning sighed. I was slightly taken aback: she'd given in?! "The Surtr are terrorists from Gran Pulse, shock tactics only. The Eden fire a few weeks ago? The bomb attacks on rallies, which you've been going to? The power cut at Bodhum? The floods at Nautilus? The hostage crisis a year ago at Eden-Hall? That was all them"

"How come I never heard about them?"

"Blame Bartholomew" Lightning chuckled, "he didn't want to scare the public so soon after the new government of Cocoon City was put in place. Me, I'd have told them and damn the consequences, but he was the Governor. Never let it be said I don't respect authority: worthwhile authority that is, not like the Sanctum."

"Why are they coming after me?" I was full of questions

"Ask them. Bartholomew's the only one they contact, and that's just with threats."

"You've got to have some idea" I pleaded

Lightning shook her head, grunting. I sighed, sitting back down, head aching slightly, partly through tiredness, partly through the new information. A day ago and I was just me, hee, I was barely even that; just a surviving ex-l'Cie. Now it turns out I'm being hunted by the Surtr, whoever/whatever they are. Fun.

"Maybe you're happy being kept in the dark, But I'm not" I sighed, getting up again and shaking off my headache. I walked across the room, searching madly in several other rooms, flicking through document in what was presumable Governor Bartholomew Estheim's desk. Only met the man a day ago, now I was going through his stuff.

"What are you doing?" Lightning groaned

"Trying to actually be told something useful" I read a few folder titles, slipping them neatly back into place when they were just dull tax forms. "These Surtr sent that message to the Governor. Sounds like it's not the first" I grunted, taking the whole mass of folders out of the desk and dropping them on the floor, unable to find any mention of the Surtr.

"Hope doesn't know" Lightning supplied. "Bartholomew wouldn't be that obvious"

"He never met me" I grinned, resting slightly and putting my hand on the inside of the drawer, to momentarily relax.

There was a loud, hollow thump. I think the word would be serendipity.

"It's hollow" I breathed, resting my head closer to the floor and seeing the thickness of the drawer. The base panel was four or so centimetres: if it was even solid. I pressed my fingers onto the panel, squeezing a few irregularities in the wood. It lifted a little before I accidently let go. Definitely something there.

Frowning, I looked at the drawer again. how did Governor Estheim open it? Then I saw it; a small white thread moved from the inside of the knob, descending to the bottom panel. It could almost be seen as decoration, except… I pinched the thread, pulling it up and giving a cry of relief as the base opened, revealing itself as fake.

Beneath the façade rested a thick pile of pale notes, black ink scrawled on creased paper. I guess Governor Estheim must've been reading the other note before being interrupted, by Hope I suppose.

"I thought he threw them away" Lightning said, looking down

"You knew about these?"

"Yeah, of course. We were talking about that other note a couple of days ago. Shoved it under the manavision when Hope came in and never managed to get it out. I'm surprised you managed to get it: when we tried, the pencil was too thick"

"Wasn't easy, but was worth it" I replied pointedly, watching Lightning smile slightly at the memory. I looked back down at the pile of letters from the Surtr.

Resting on top was a crisp, slightly pale blue, envelope.

"He got another one" Lightning murmured.

"Couldn't have had time to read it" I felt like a thief, but still, I lifted the envelope, peeling it open. A small rectangle of crumpled paper came out, with a few lines of ink scrawled across it.

_Estheim_

_We have found the girl. We remembered: don't you ever forget that. When she needs to remember, it will be we she turns to, not you and not your pet friends.  
The end is but a thought away._

_From The Surtr._

I dropped the note, shaken. They'd found me? What did that mean.

"And in further news…" I heard the dull drone of the manavision break my reverie. Lifting the note again, I walked back to the other room, followed by Lightning.

"An explosion occurred today in New Bodhum, originating from number three of Lloyd Street"

I froze suddenly. That was what they meant. They'd found me.

I lived with my adoptive parents, ones Governor Estheim had probably assigned to me. I lived in number three, Lloyd Street. In New Bodhum.

Hope's POV

At last, the results of the genetic test were back. I'd taken a hair from Asura, and had submitted Vanille's hair along with it. And no matter what Sollo said, he couldn't defy science.

The doctors had compared the DNA. They concluded that there was a 98% chance of Asura being Vanille's daughter, 100% if they were honest. So why was there no record of her?

Asura was Vanille's daughter, of that much we were sure. So why didn't Sollo's records say so? Did he have some reason to keep it secret?

The thought struck me like a lightning bolt: was Sollo Asura's father?


	6. The Homes

Hope's POV

I probably would see Sollo again, but I guess, not right now. The urge had just gripped me to see Asura, see if there was any resemblance to Sollo. Maybe that would be the proof I needed, short of getting a genetic test of Sollo.

But now I knew, even if Sollo's records didn't show it, Asura was Vanille's daughter.

I reached my house again in a few minutes, anxious to see Asura, and only partly due to see if there was any similarity to Sollo.

"Hey there Hope!" she called through the window, waving but voice slightly muted.

A lone thought ran through my mind, and I paused. True, she was a lot like Vanille, but sometimes, if I looked at her the right way, or focused on the colour of most of her hair, I could see one other resemblance.

Her hair, some of her body, even her voice on occasion. They all resembled Fang more than Vanille.

Had Sollo given me Fang's hair as opposed to Vanille's?

Was I just being paranoid?

I blinked a few times, distracting myself before entering the house to see what was, frankly, a mess. Paper was strewn across the floor, leading all the way to Dad's desk, and one of the drawers was lying, almost completely dismantled.

"What is this?" I asked, slightly harsher than I meant to.

"Research" Asura smiled, kneeling next to a pile of paper notes. She threw one note over to me.

_Estheim_

_Give us the girl. We know where you are and nothing can or will stop us coming after you. Give us the girl and we'll consider letting you live. Contact us the normal way: write the address on the back of this note and put it in your trash. We'll find it._

_From The Surtr._

I looked up at Asura, slightly confused. "What's a Surtr?"

"The Surtr" Light walked into the room holding a key, "terrorists chasing Asura, but Bartholomew wouldn't tell me why"

"Asura's in danger?" I turned my gaze to Light as she tried to unlock a cabinet beneath the manavision.

"Yep" Light gave a satisfied grunt as the door opened. "From the Surtr, not that they said anything useful" Light paused, starting to sort through the notes before peering up, "Asura, I get that you want to stay but you're distracted. Never work on something if you can't give it complete focus. Go home"

"Really?" Asura looked at Light, mildly surprised.

"Am I missing something?" I added

"The Surtr bombed my home" Asura looked down, saddened.

"What? I…um"

"Don't worry about it" she put on a brave smile, countering my stutter. "I'm going there now. See what happened"

"Can I go?" I looked at Light as she yanked a drawer apart, looking for any hidden compartments. It was odd to see Light doing something not involving her gun blade, but it was considerably odder happily watching her wreck the house and not mind.

"You're asking me?" Light's eyes widened as she looked back at me.

"Guess not" I laughed, taking Asura by the hand and quickly running out the door.

I shut the door behind us. Slowly to begin with, but speeding up, I walked with Asura down the long, winding street, moving through Cocoon City for a few steps before relenting and letting Asura lead. After all, she was the one who actually knew where we were going.

"Still got this" she sighed, handing me a scrap of paper. "Another Surtr note. Strangest one yet"

I took it from her light grasp, and read the black, inky scrawl.

_Estheim_

_We read the precedents. Strong emotions will reawaken her: and we need her to be reawakened. The end is close, and fear is one strong emotion we can provide. _

_From The Surtr_

"Strong emotion?" I muttered, screwing the note into my pocket.

"Kind of explains why they want me. If they can scare me then, well, whatever will happen will happen" she sighed. Her normally bouncy, Vanille-like disposition had evaporated, leaving me with an almost tearful Asura who seemed as if the weight of the world was on her shoulders.

"Are you sure they're talking about you? I mean, what's this end?"

"Oh, it's me alright. They sent the Governor a note saying they'd found me, and next they bombed my house after a bit of planning."

"Are you still a l'Cie?" the question left my lips before I could stop it. She stopped.

"What?"

"It fits. They want to scare you, maybe make you angry. That's a recipe for Ragnarok if you're a l'Cie. And you've close to read my mind a few times; you escaped that anti-Pulse rally ages ago. A l'Cie could probably do that"

"It all seems so likely" Asura laughed. "I'm not, by the way. No brand to speak of" she rolled her drape up, revealing most of her arms.

"I'll believe you" I added hastily, blushing as Asura started to roll the rest of her sari up.

"You're just easy to read" she laughed, rolling her wrap back into place and straightening the edges. "You don't need to doubt me. I am who I say I am, as far as I know: a perfectly normal Gran Pulsian, except for being Vanille's daughter"

I nodded, trying to conceal my discomfort. She'd responded to my thoughts as much as my words with that ending.

Asura's POV

I couldn't hide it for much more. I was scared, more scared than I'd ever been. Terrified even. People were making me doubt who I was, and now I found that these Surtr were chasing after me. And why? Not a clue.

Everyone thought I was someone different, some said I wasn't Vanille's daughter, and these Surtr expect me to bring 'the end'.

Who was I? Orphan?

"I am who I say I am, as far as I know" I reiterated to Hope, smiling all the while. He was still blushing from when I'd rolled up my sari. He was so easy to get to. Hee hee. "A perfectly normal Gran Pulsian. Except for being Vanille's daughter." I don't really know why I said that last bit; should've stayed unspoken. I just felt the urge.

"Gran Pulsian?" some strangled voice from the shadows murmured. I looked towards it, catching the shape of a woman holding some kind of short, broad blade.

"Can't catch a break, can we?" I sighed to Hope as the anti-Pulse militant walked cautiously out of the shadows, knife raised.

"Get back to where you came from" she sneered

"Hate to break it to you, but this is where I come from."

"This is the New Cocoon. It has nothing, nothing to do with your savage Pulsian hell"

"You do realize without us 'savages' then you'd still be floundering about on your shell up in the sky?"

"It was your fal'Cie that would've destroyed us"

"Old news. It was your Primarch egging the l'Cie on"

"And whose word do we have for that" the anti-Pulse woman jabbed forwards for a moment, lifting her lip for a moment. "Get out the way" she snarled to Hope

"No" he said simply, getting in front of me.

A bit melodramatic, but hey, what can you do?

"If there's one thing I hate more than a savage" the woman cursed, "it's a superior Cocoon citizen betraying his people. You're as savage as them"

"We're not the ones with a knife" I said, peering over Hope's shoulder. I pushed him out the way, feeling him resist to begin with, but gradually move as he realized I wouldn't stop.

"Savage!" she screeched.

"Stop" I held out my hand, surprising myself as she did stop, mid-lunge. "If you hate us so much, why are you on Gran Pulse? Surely you could've stayed with the die-hard patriots on Cocoon? A few are still there, barely scraping by with the few surviving fal'Cie, but they're there. Why aren't you with them?"

"I-"

"Unless you need the fal'Cie to survive. You're so used to them, aren't you? This is New Bodhum, the nearest city to the Atomos hive: you need the fal'Cie around. So you couldn't stay where most had fallen, on Cocoon: you had to come to Gran Pulse. And we've got plenty of fal'Cie here"

"You h-"

"I'm not done yet" I interrupted her again, "Because there's one thing you need the fal'Cie for if you come from Cocoon. You want to enslave them again, am I right? You depended on the fal'Cie for everything, and that hasn't changed. They're like a drug, and you can't bear being near them, but not being above them. You need to dominate them, to turn them again into your slaves. Is that why you're so angry? You hate us for denying you the chance to live in the luxury you had before?"

"I…I-" the woman looked at me, eyes slightly wider. She quickly turned and fled, dropping the knife and letting it clatter on the ground.

"You always know what to say. When were you a shrink?" Hope laughed, amused.

"I know their type" I said dismissively, slightly worried myself at the effect my words had. Had I scared her so much that she'd fled?

I couldn't help but think of what the Surtr had said. I would bring 'the end'. Was it somehow related? I'd terrified that militant with my words; and I was pretty annoyed, true. Who wouldn't be, unable to go anywhere without being hated for something I had no control over. But was this enough to bring 'the end'?

"Are you alright?" Hope asked, lightly holding my shoulder.

"Yeah" I squeaked. Ok, that wasn't a particularly convincing lie.

"What is it?" he sighed.

"Nothing, just want to get there. It's my home…I just hope" I stopped speaking. I was trying to find an excuse, and had succeeded in making myself even more upset. Were… Were my parents fine?

"My parents were there" I blurted, saying the awful words. My adoptive parents. Had the Surtr hurt them? I swear, if they had… Well, the Surtr had better prepare for their 'end' if so.


	7. The Feeling

Asura's POV

Home. It was just there; right there. I think.

It was the right address, sure, but I didn't recognize the place. Who would? The walls had tumbled, most of the upper floor broken, the windows were shattered, and there were still flames flickering in the wooden wreckage.

"No…" I whispered, before running into the ruins. I ducked beneath the tape barring the house, barely noticing Hope following me.

This could not have happened. It just couldn't have. It was one of those moments which just doesn't feel real, no matter how much you concentrate on it. I refused to accept it.

I made my way through the next door, ducking beneath the shattered frame, into what used to be a living rom. The pale green of the walls had gone, incinerated or peeled away, and the furniture was shredded, tiny splinters of wood littered across the room. The manavision was a chunk of metal, shards of glass turned to powder, and any power it used to have now lost.

I looked down, to the rubble strewn floor. There were two bodies in the centre, lying, arranged by some sick person's hand, side by side, staring up. Their features were well preserved considering, but their eyes were shut and their bodies were unnaturally contorted, with deep welts spread across the skin. I looked at a toppled, bloodstained lamp and felt sick.

Mom and Dad.

They'd adopted me, when no others would. They were my first good memory after awaking, they were the only parents I'd met. I was too young to remember Vanille or my mystery father. So really, these two people lying here were all I had for a mother and father.

And the Surtr had killed them.

I felt something stir within me, a deep anger, a fury. "No!" I shouted, expelling the strong fury, punching the already damaged wall. There was a loud thump as it fell beneath my blow, the wall falling as yet more force was channelled into it. I darted back, away from the wave of dust and rubble. I fell onto the cluttered floor while the unstable wall fell.

"I guess it was weakened by the bomb" I shrugged to Hope, pulling myself up with my unbruised, unhurt arm.

Looking around again, I felt another wave of sadness at seeing my parents, now buried beneath the wall my fist had toppled.

"I'm sorry" Hope murmured, appalled himself at the wreck of my home. My home… I still thought of Vanille as my mother and the mystery man as my father, but that couldn't stop the closeness I felt for these two. The two dead in my name. Adoptive parents, like how Hope felt about Lightning.

"It was my fault" I squeaked, voice breaking as I spoke

"It wasn't. You couldn't have known-" Hope hesitated momentarily before moving to hold my hand

"Couldn't I?" I span around, half blinded by tears; "I could've seen their fear of the Surtr. I could've seen how your Dad kept us safe. I could've seen the Surtr following me. I could've warned them the instant I found out about the Surtr. I-"

"Don't! They took four years to find you, since you entered Cocoon City. They can't have been looking that hard"

"Do you know how often we moved? This mom said she was travelling for her work. Every time the Surtr got close probably, so don't try and say they didn't care much about me. They did. They killed my parents to get me feeling some strong emotion"

"Didn't work though, did it? You're still here, and there hasn't been an 'end'."

"There was something" I gestured to the fallen wall.

"You said it was weakened by the- hang on" Hope interrupted himself, cautiously stepping into the rubble.

"What is it?" I frowned

"I think I see something" Hope reached the surviving portion of the wall, a thick plastered wood and stone block barely knee high. He knelt down, flipping down a portion of the wall. "There's a hinge here" he murmured, slightly surprised, before he reached down from above, through the cracks, and withdrew a small, dark red, yellowing, leather-bound book.

"Something in the wall" I muttered, cautiously walking over the wood and stone shards, remnants of the once homely building. I got to the cleared ground around Hope, standing close to him as we looked at the small, dark red book. "She used to sit here" I murmured, recognizing the indentations on the floor and wall

"What?" Hope turned, still clasping the book.

"Mom used to sit here. Her chair was right here, back to the wall. No wonder I never saw that hinge: it was behind her chair"

"Which means this is probably theirs" Hope paused slightly, fingering the clasp sealing the book shut. "Sure you want to see it?"

"Of course" I snapped, more harshly than I meant, "Why wouldn't I?"

"Well…" Hope handed it to me, letting me see the peeling, gold letters on the front cover.

Asura.

It was about me. Curiosity piqued, I flipped the clasp off and, resting the outside of the book on a waist height clump that appeared to have once been part of the roof, I stared at the first, yellowing page. It was sewed into the spine; originally written before they purchased the book it seemed. The beginning appeared to be part of a general diary, but the rest of the book looked solely based around raising me. It was…somewhat chilling.

"Four years ago" I murmured, looking at the date, before reading aloud for Hope's sake. I wasn't so sad that I couldn't think about others.

"We found someone today. She looks like one of the Pulse survivors, resurrected from within crystal. She looks like she's fifteen, maybe sixteen. Asleep when we found her, so we'll name her when she wakes up. Unless she finds her parents, we're happy to look after her. We may need to look after her, remembering what happened when we were driving her back to our house. We wouldn't just leave her there, alone, abandoned.

She looks odd. Not odd in a bad way, just in a different way. It's her hair that bugs me really. It's dark over most of her head, but there are bright orange patches around the back. It doesn't look like the work of any dye or paint, though I suppose it might just be some fal'Cie's curse. We don't know what things were like back then" I paused for breath, stopping my narration to look at the hooked Hope. "I don't know why my hair's so odd either, don't worry" I laughed, before becoming serious and turning back to the book. I couldn't remember this; too young I guess. It was haunting though, reading my own life from a stranger's perspective.

"As I said before, something strange occurred as we took her home" I continued reading the diary. "We'd only taken a few steps from where she'd lain before we were attacked. We do not know the identity of these people, but they seemed to have some connection to the girl. They were desperate to get her."

"The Surtr" Hope breathed. I nodded, knowing that to be true.

I skimmed through the rest of the book, not finding much else of interest. Except for one line, the first sentences on the first page of the text originally part of the book and not sewed into the spine.

"Bartholomew told us who she is and while we can scarcely believe it, it explains most of it. He contacted the Surtr and was informed by them. Because of this, we know we must protect her, we cannot allow her to awaken and fall prey to the Surtr."

I hastily read through the rest of the book, but nowhere could I find a mention of this. They didn't say what made me so special, didn't say what would happen if I 'awoke', they didn't even say what that meant.

I had half a mind to run after these Surtr, provoke them, find out something, anything about who they thought I was.

But was there any point?

I threw down the book, disturbing the clutter of rubble, before stomping out of the ruined house. I'd find some way to get by, but I just couldn't face this any more.

Who was I?

Hope's POV

I followed Asura as she stormed out of her old home, losing her as we made it to the winding streets outside. I let out long, rattling breath. It was so hard to find strangers again in this city: she knew where I lived, but I had no clue where to find her now.

Alone for now at least. I wished it wasn't so, but now I could do one thing I'd been waiting to do. Meet Sollo, confront him about the close to 100% genetic match between Asura and Vanille, about how Asura had to be Vanille's daughter. About how the records were wrong, about how he could've given me the wrong hair, or how he didn't expect me to go do a genetic test. And, most of all, about he could be the father. How that was the only thing that would make sense: if he'd changed the records himself.

I strode up to his door, boldly knocking twice. It moved open a few centimetres, and Sollo peered out. "You!" he exclaimed, quickly opening the door further. "Come in, quickly" he grabbed my wrist and pulled me in to his cluttered home. The corridor looked pretty much the same as before, only the light from the records room was slightly dimmed.

"I take it you did the genetic test?" Sollo stared at me

"Yeah. The genetic profiles matched almost 100%"

"Y- what?" Sollo froze as he spoke.

"The doctors said she was certainly the daughter of Vanille. You didn't expect me to do the test did you?"

"Frankly, I couldn't have cared less whether or not you did the test. I know she is not Vanille's daughter; else my records would say so."

"Are you her father?" I was grasping, but it was my best option

"What?" he froze again

"Someone would've had to erase the records; and if you really are the only person who went near the records then it had to be you. So then we have to ask why. What did you have to hide about Asura?"

"I don't know who she is, but she is no child of mine, no child of anyone if my records are right: and they always are. I don't know who she is, but she's playing a game with everyone, and you're just following her lead."

"Could someone else have gotten to the records?" I changed the subject, hoping to calm Sollo.

"I suppose so. Wouldn't be easy but I guess a talented l'Cie, like Vanille could manage it. But that still doesn't solve the problem of a father"

"It might do. If there was enough of a scandal then who wouldn't erase a record?"

"By a scandal…" Sollo mused, "maybe the father came from Cocoon. That would explain why she was never that close to anyone"

"Another thing" I spoke up, "could you have given me the wrong hair? If the mother isn't Vanille then it might be Fang. Asura looks a lot like Fang sometimes: maybe you gave me Fang's hair, and the genetic match was with Fang"

"Possible I suppose, or… it couldn't be…"

"What?"

"This sounds wrong, but what if Asura's father was Fang's father?"

"Huh?" I stepped back, slightly confused

"It would definitely be a scandal, Fang was Vanille's best friend, and it would explain the resemblance"

"No, I don't think Vanille would… betray Fang like that"

"Suppose you're right" Sollo slumped, sighing momentarily, "but wait" he ran up to the wall, searching for some new record. He folded a floor-to-ceiling sheet up, opening a concealed safe door after quickly inputting a digital code, and took out an A4 sized book, with black fur forming the front and back covers. The inside was written on old animal skin.

"You're getting me to reveal all my secrets" Sollo chuckled, "This was given to me by the previous record keeper. An inheritance, with secret information to be read only when someone shows up on no records"

"What is it?" I moved over the wooden floor, peering at the slightly gruesome record

"If one is not recorded anywhere, if one is never present before their adult life, if one person, just one person, has no history, then this is why" Sollo read a thin note attached to the front, furry cover. "That's what the last record keeper said. Asura seems to match that description"

"What does it say?"

Sollo carefully opened the book, delicately manipulating the thin skin pages. Gothic symbols littered the book.

"Not a clue" Sollo sighed, "It's an obscure Gran Pulsian dialect, from an archaic language few spoke even in my grandfather's day. Try and find someone from Methu Pulse, Gran Pulse as it stood centuries before my day. Maybe one of them could help you translate"

"What good's a book that no one understands?"

"Sentimental value, mostly" Sollo laughed, "a few people in my era understood it, but they were too highly prized to become l'Cie, so none would've been in crystal stasis unless they came from a time the language was commonly spoken. That would be in the era of Methu Pulse: I guess a few people in crystal sleep would be from that time, but finding them would be a problem. It was just at the start of the schism with Cocoon: they really hated each other back then, though it was before the war really began" Sollo looked almost wistful for a moment. "You can't take the book though, too fragile. I've got a paper copy somewhere though" he knelt down, gingerly placing the ancient book back in the safe.

Sollo sealed the safe again, folding the paper record wallpaper back down. Now he clasped a sheath of yellowing paper sheets, eleven or so separate pieces. They were covered in elaborate sketches of the language in the other book.

"This should explain who Asura is, if anyone can read it" Sollo gave the sheets to me. "Copied symbol for symbol" he dropped the papers into my open hands.

"I won't lose them" I promised.

"Don't worry if you do; keep them. I've got other copies, each record keeper made their own. The secret you hold in your hand was the basis for an ancient Methu Pulsian religion as best we can tell, and it kept some of its holiness even to those who didn't understand" Sollo sat down, stretching, on the wooden chair in the centre of the room, surrounded by the words he prized so much.

"Thanks" I stuttered slightly, realizing the weight of his gift; it was something even he didn't know, that no one in his generation knew or understood.

I tucked the roll of paper into my bright orange jacket, just below my neck, unnoticeable from the outside but an obtrusive pressure against my throat. Just a reminder, so I wouldn't forget.

Asura's POV

I could remember more now.

Since I'd found my…my parents, I'd been able to remember more. A day ago I knew that I'd stumbled around on Gran Pulse for a little, and remembered falling from Cocoon. I remembered Anima's Vestige, and knew that I was Anima's l'Cie, frozen and then awoken.

But now I knew more. The Vestige falling, crashing to Lake Bresha, most of Anima dissipating and crystallizing the Lake. It had saved Lightning, Snow, Hope, Sazh and Mom as they fell. And it had saved me.

And then I'd met someone…someone. They'd scared me, scared me a lot…

Was this what the Surtr meant when they said I'd awake?

I focused on the memory of the person, a man, definitely. Darkish skin, bright, piercing blue eyes, like the sea from Oerba. How could I remember that colour? My memories of Gran Pulse were pretty sketchy, but I could remember Oerba in pristine detail. Just not the events, well, not many at least.

But I knew my mother.

And really, that thought scared me. I knew my mother, but I didn't know my father. I knew Oerba, but I didn't know much about Gran Pulse. I knew I'd entered crystal sleep, but I couldn't remember why, and I couldn't remember much after awaking.

But I could remember that man. A strong emotion again, it seemed those strong emotions overcame whatever block was in my mind. A fal'Cie induced block? In which case, why did they want me to forget?

The man. Focus on the man. Remember him Asura, remember more.

His name rolled off my tongue, the ghost of a whisper, a breeze through my mind. "Garmr" I spoke quietly, remembering that one, crucial bit of evidence.

God, look at me. Lusting after one word, the name of some complete stranger. Some priorities.

Priorities… Hope's face flashed through my mind. I had to find him again; he'd stuck with me even in the doubt of my parenthood. That was worth something.

I focused on that, see Hope again. I didn't know what to say, what to do, but I felt the urge to see him. To help him, however I could.

But still, even with that uplifting aim, even thinking of Hope, that one word, that name, sent a chill, a shiver of fear down my spine. That one word.

Garmr.

**I have actually got a plan for where the Asura storyline is going, but I'm not saying what. **

**What I am saying however is: I hope (hee hee) you enjoy!**


	8. The Hope

**Some people might hate me for this part. that's all I'm saying.**

Hope's POV

A few days since I'd last seen Asura at her house. It was hard to find people in Cocoon city, it always was, and while I knew I had to see her again, it wasn't easy especially when I hadn't returned home for days, searching for any Methu Pulsian scholars to translate Sollo's text.

No luck.

In fact, less luck than that. I'd heard a matter of minutes ago that dad's condition had taken a turn for the worst. And now I stood, hoping, next to his hospital bed. Hoping that he wouldn't…wouldn't…

I didn't know how Asura could bear it. I'd broken down after Mom's death, I still could barely think of her without crying, but too lose both parents, even both at the same time…

I couldn't survive that. I couldn't survive losing dad. I just couldn't.

His hand lifted a little, voice croaking incoherently. He blinked, gasping in exertion, before trying to speak again. "Hope…" his speech was quiet, very quiet, strained.

"Dad?" I leant over him, trying to hold back a tear

"I…I'm glad you're here" his dark, smart brown hair formed a contrast with the sterile, white pillow and walls. The once inviting colours now seemed forbidding, and I could almost feel them whispering. How many people had died in this room?

Don't think like that! He wouldn't…he wouldn't…

"Is Lightning…" his hoarse, muted voice trailed off

"She says she wishes she could be here, but she's working with Snow, Guardian Corps business" I shrugged

"Tell her… Tell her she made a good mother" dad struggled to keep his eyes open.

"I think she already knows" I made a bad attempt at a joke.

"I just…Hope"

"Uh-huh?"

"Did we ever tell you how you got your name?" the beeping of the monitor in the background slowed, dad's heart rate dropping. No…

"No" I frowned

"Nora's mother wanted to name a daughter after her" dad chuckled a little, giving a weak cough after, "and her name was Bathsheba! Imagine that, two people called Bathsheba!" he croaked a little, a slow, deep laugh shaking down his torso.

"Go on" I tried to keep him awake, keep him conscious

"We really wanted a boy after that. We hoped we'd have a son: that's how Nora came up with it. Hope"

"Good story"

"I know…can't believe we never told you. At least, now you know, before I-"

"Don't say it!" I blurted, a few drops falling from my eyes and spattering on dad's crumpled, pristine sheets.

"Hope…" he sighed, "You managed without me before. Remember? You went to Gran Pulse alone, leaving me with the Cavalry. Find that strength again, hope, please"

"I can't…I can't lose both of you" more tears fell

"You'll still have Lightning."

"She's not you"

"And I'm not Nora. We look after you in our own ways. Sorry Hope, sorry for what I've done. Sorry that I left you back then: I was…unprepared"

"Dad…I forgave you four years ago"

"I know, it's just…I might never get another chance" he gave a soft smile, the monitors beeping slower and slower.

Beep. Beep. Beep…Beep…beep…beep…beep… …beep… …beep… …beep… …beep

"Dad…" I grasped his hand, hoping, praying

"Be strong, Hope. I know you can do this. When I do, you will be Governor: I know you'll be brilliant. Just remember, peace. That's all I ever wanted and now…now I'll have peace. True peace"

"No! Dad…" this was unbearable

"Just remember, peace" he locked eyes with me for a brief second, lifting his head from the pillow.

Beep… … …beep… … …beep… … …beep… … …beep… … …beep… … … … …

"Nora…" he whispered, closing his eyes.

The monitor beeped again, holding the note as his heart rate dropped to zero. I stood their, clasping his hand, barely able to believe it. This couldn't…this couldn't be happening. Not again.

"No" I murmured, staring at his serene face. Eyes closed, lips slightly parted, skin smooth, still warm.

"No…"

More tears fell, trickling down my cheeks, down my face, and splashing on his limp arm. Dad…

There was a click and a rubbing in the background, a quiet noise, barely noticeable. I ignored it; just the door opening and shutting. Probably some nurse or doctor, picking up the monitor. The now silent monitor. No heart rate. Nothing. He was… I could feel the heat seeping away into the air, lost.

The newcomer to the room moved closer, each step fairly quiet, an almost silent click.

"Thought I'd find you here" her voice was muted by the sombre atmosphere. I heard her move closer: for she was female. I could tell by her familiar voice.

"My god" she gasped in a quiet whisper.

"He's gone, Asura" I closed my own eyes in a futile effort to stop the tears.

Asura, the entrant to the room, placed her hands either side of mine, on dad's arm. I felt a cool heat emanate from each hand, clasped firmly on dad.

I stared into the darkness ahead, eyes still closed, and focused on the feelings, the sounds around me. It was all there was now, just dull, colourless images. Only Asura seemed to give off any light. I could feel her warm hands either side of my own, her body pressed against mine.

It was silent. No noise. Even our breathing was unnoticeable. Just a vague inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. A soft breeze amidst total silence.

Beep.

My eyes snapped open.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

I looked at the hospital monitor, amazed. It was picking up a heart rate.

Then I felt Asura slump momentarily next to me, energy used up by something. I turned, supporting her.

"A-" the letter, the start of a word was gasped by dad, before he closed his eyes again, in sleep rather than death.

Was he going to say 'Asura'? Or something else?

He was still alive. Alive! My heart sang, but my mind was occupied elsewhere. How?

"Asura?" I murmured to her. She looked up at me, pulling herself up straight by pushing on my shoulder.

"Yeah?" she responded, quiet, tired.

"Are you…are you a l'Cie?" I couldn't think of what else to say. Except, maybe 'thanks'. But that didn't express quiet how I felt.

"I" she looked at her hands, then at dad. She looked surprised, scared even. Scared of herself. "I…I don't know."


	9. The Truth

**A lot of story development in this chapter. A lot. So, without further ado, Chapter 9 of (currently) 13: The Truth.**

Asura's POV

How long had it been since Governor Estheim was saved? By me? I didn't know.

How could I have saved him? I was just…me.

Yeah, me. Who was that? A woman with memories fading before four years ago, with my only memory of waking up from crystal stasis was being in agony as the Vestige fell. Yeah, sounds ordinary.

I looked at my naked body in the mirror; Hope was letting me stay in his house, separate rooms. I stared at the mirror. No l'Cie brand. I turned around, peering over my own shoulder. Still no brand. Good. That was one theory discounted; I was not a l'Cie.

Laughing to myself, I got dressed, slipping underwear on and covering the rest of myself with a blue, black and pink wrap. I tightened the knot over my shoulder, keeping the clothing together, before walking out of the room, looking a lot more confident than I felt.

It was an odd thought, to think I'd spent the night in the same house as Hope. In the room next to him, at least. Last night Governor Estheim was saved, by my hand Hope seemed to think and I really didn't blame him. Honestly though, I didn't have a clue: how had I done it? All I knew was that Hope thought I was a l'Cie, though I bore no brand.

|My thoughts returned to the name which had featured in my nightmares, and was never absent from my mind for too long. Garmr. That one word had come to me when I was sad, very sad. Strong emotions, as the Surtr said. Seeing Governor Estheim, supporter of GPE, lying like that. Seeing Hope feeling the hopelessness (hee hee) I'd felt a matter of days ago, now that was a strong emotion.

Had it prompted me to do whatever I'd done to help his father?

It scared me, more than anything, knowing these emotions could trigger something in me. Trigger a memory, or some supernatural power. Something I still didn't understand.

"Hey Hope" I walked into the lounge, watching Hope, already dressed in his bright jacket and bandanna, take bites out of a sandwich and watch news on the manavision.

"Hi" he nodded back, swallowing a mouthful of his food.

I left the room to get a sandwich from the kitchen, before re-entering and sitting on the chair next to Hope. We sat in silence for a few minutes, eating and watching the news.

"You can't just forget about it, you know" Hope murmured, still facing the screen

"What?" I frowned, turning

"You healed dad. He was dead according to the monitors, but you touched him, and"

"I wouldn't have thought you'd be complaining"

"I'm not" Hope turned to me, gazing into my eyes. I suppressed a shiver at his smouldering cerulean stare, "I just want to know how you did it"

"I told you. I don't know. I honestly do not know" I sighed, repeating myself.

"Right" Hope turned back to the manavision.

"You don't believe me" I groaned.

"Would you?"

"I'd tell you if I knew. Believe that at least; trust me Hope" I pleaded.

He closed his eyes, breathing out slowly. At long last he turned back to me and smiled; "Sure, but don't think I'll stop wondering"

"I'll be wondering too. Thanks though" I sighed, finishing my sandwich in silence whilst watching the manavision. There was no major news; just coverage of ridiculous rallies and a bit of gossip. One of the rare days that passed without a hate crime somewhere.

So far.

"Better get to work" Hope suddenly grinned, switching the manavision off and standing.

"Work?" I frowned, following him as he started out the door.

"Find out about the Surtr, you can't tell me you're not curious" Hope straightened his jacket as I followed him down the road. "Maybe find a Methu Pulsian"

"Why'd you want to find oldies like them?" I frowned

"Document a friend gave me" Hope seemed slightly apologetic. "He's convinced you're not Vanille's daughter"

"Another one? Sheesh, why's he want a Methu Pulsian then? I'm not that old"

"It's another of his theories. You don't show up on any of his records, but your genes have a practically 100% chance of being related to Vanille"

"You got my genes? I'm not asking, but just believe me, I am Vanille's daughter. Why do you never believe me?"

"W-what?"

"You don't believe me about your father, now you don't believe I'm her daughter. Can't you ever trust me?"

"I do trust you" Hope stopped to stare into my eyes before continuing his walk. "I disagreed with the record guy every time he said you weren't Vanille's daughter; that's why I have to find a Methu Pulsian. He showed me an old book that supposedly explains away people who don't show up in records but match another's identity"

"What is it?" I was suddenly eager, if nervous

"Don't know. He just gave me a copy of the book; a few sheets with the symbols of the book repeated on. He can't find anyone who understands it, it's from the Methu Pulsian era, so he gave it to me. See if I can find anyone"

"Can I see it?" I asked, curious. I wasn't expecting to understand it, it's just one of those things you do. Curiosity.

"Sure" Hope shrugged, taking a roll of paper out from his jacket. I grabbed it, unfolding it and stopping by the edge of the street, near a field filled with growing wheat.

I looked at the sheet. The first few symbols seemed more like art than writing; a spiky representation of a star, a stylized image of Ragnarok, and an odd eye shape. I skimmed through the rest, admiring the effort that had gone into the replica.

I finished looking at the small pictures, and instead looked at the blocks of the symbols, varying amounts of glyphs separated by finger width spaces.

The first block was made up of an octagon with jagged lines coming from the sides; like a star. The next glyph was a small stick-person with extra appendages from its back, while the last glyph was a rectangle made from lots of miniscule lines, with a central, tiny triangle.

"Kla" I made the harsh sound using the back of my throat. Hope looked at me, astonished.

"Mecra tolsharden hyar" I moved my eyes through the lines of ancient text.

"You understand it?" Hope seemed amazed

"I remember it" I sighed. Yet another oddity to add to my collection: when had I even learnt Methu Pulsian?

"What's it mean?" Hope asked

"Well, um," I started back at the beginning, "_They have no past. They have but an illusion, but an illusion they will swear is truth, true as their name. But this too is false_" I took a breath, slightly scared by the words.

Was this about me?

"_They can be seen with a logical gaze. Their parents are long lost, or have no memory of them, and none will say they conceived"_

"Like Vanille" Hope murmured, excitedly

"Shut up" I wasn't going to be distracted. "She was my mother, I refuse to accept my entire past is a lie like this thing is claiming"

"Keep reading, please" Hope rested a soft, gloved hand on my shoulder.

"You always know what to say. _They look like a child, and tough the building blocks of matter shall confirm this, it is not to be. Strong emotion will awaken the supernatural within them, and the strongest emotion will fling the mental walls they erected into oblivion_" my voice cracked a little. "_Those that know the truth erase the truth, for they wish to leave that life behind. But do not be fooled, for they are-_" I stopped reading, the instant I saw the next word.

"What?" Hope squeaked almost once I stopped speaking.

"_They are_…Shor'ack" I muttered the Methu Pulsian word, shivering as I felt its influence affect me even now.

Not true. Not who I am. It can't be.

"Not who I am" I whispered, closing my eyes.

"Huh?" Hope, excited, curious, ignorant, said.

"Not who I am" I said, voice stronger, yanking both sides of the sheets and ripping it in half. I made another tear, a different direction, and tore again, throwing the tiny scrap of paper to the wind.

"Not who I am!" I shouted, watching the fragments of paper be lost to the wind and wheat.

Hope's POV

Asura wouldn't tell me what had terrified her so much, and I didn't dare go back to Sollo and ask for another copy. I just felt an incontrollable revulsion at the idea. And really, I pitied Asura. I didn't want to hurt her; and whatever that paper said had hurt her. Since that time yesterday, she's seemed more withdrawn. She woke up last night, screaming 'not who I am'.

We've settled into an unofficial agreement; I don't mention dad, or whatever that paper said. But we were still going after the Surtr. After giving up on getting Asura to tell me what it said, what 'Shor'ack' meant, we'd travelled to the slums. It's where Snow and his team hang out, the NORA Sector, but it was also the best place to go for any gossip or information. We'd heard of a woman called Paddrea Ros Lera, from the old Paddrean Capital, who'd heard of the Surtr, and Asura wanted to see if she knew about whatever the Surtr were planning.

Dad's being kept in hospital for a few weeks; doctors are mystified by his revival, and fear a relapse, they say.

I switched the manavision off, leaving the house with the withdrawn Asura, to NORA Sector. The walk took around a minute, and it passed in silence. Asura was talking as little as possible, as if she were afraid a few words would summon the Surtr.

The NORA Sector was made from huge sheets of metal from Pulsian mines, forming one dome. Over half of it was made from one, seamless, slightly rusty sheet, while the rest was made from scraps and rods. There were only entrances and exits lined along this one side; metal curtains that could be pushed out the way to reveal NORA Sector.

Asura moved the curtain aside, a low creak echoing, before we walked into the slums. The perimeter of the dome's interior was lined with small houses, some little more than bedrooms alone, and 'houses' like these made up most of the outer edges. In fact, most of the lower floors were purely houses; I had to climb up a rusty ladder to get to the next floor, and, along with Asura, had to climb up to the fifth floor of the dome (half way up, more or less) before we were in NORA Sector.

Each floor had a different name and, while the slums were collectively known as NORA Sector, it was this floor with the official name 'NORA Sector'. Just, this floor had the most notable people on; the old members of NORA lived here, among the poor like they were in Cocoon, trying to help.

"Hey there Hope!" a rough voice called. I turned to see a fiery haired man in a blue jacket jump off a pile of crates.

"Good to see you Gadot" I laughed as he ran up

"Yuj told me you'd come to see us, pity I was out: a few hounds, gorgonopsids, had broken into the Sulyya Colony" Gadot stopped next to me before whispering conspiratorially, "Who's the girlfriend?"

"Ah, no, she's not-" I articulated awkwardly, stopping as I saw Gadot laughing. Typical of him.

"I know, Yuj said" he said amidst chuckles, "he also said you're looking to find Lera, that right?"

"Uh-huh. You know where we can find her"

"Sure, but it'll cost ya"

Asura flashed a sharp, dagger filled look at him. He backed off a few steps, hands warding her off.

"Calm down, little lady" he said, only half joking, "I was just kidding. Sure I'll take you to Lera. She's over at Hanging Edge"

"The Edge?" Asura queried

"Yeah. The far end of this floor, furthest from the entrance. Tell you something: anyone who goes there's either paranoid, or someone really is after them. Whoever these Surtr are, I wouldn't want to tangle with them" Gadot looked around before starting to march through the slums.

"Coming? He called.

I nodded, hurrying up to him. Asura walked past me, confident, but cold. Whatever she'd read on Sollo's paper was still affecting her.

"Why are you so keen?" I whispered quickly, on the verge of angrily, to Asura

"I just…need to know" she murmured back. Her voice was slightly higher than normal

"It's that paper isn't it? Ever since yesterday morning you've been like this. It's got to be wrong: it's from an old source after all, so don't worry"

"The Methu Pulsians were held among the most high-regarded scientists of our land's history. But it is wrong, about me at least. I know it" she seemed to be convincing herself as much as me. "I'm not a Shor'ack"

"Don't worry about it" I took her hand; "if we have to, we'll find the Surtr themselves just to get an answer"

"Why do they want me?"

"The Surtr? I don't know, that's why we're here"

"But if I'm a Shor'ack then it'd be suicide to-"

"You're not a Shor'ack though." I squeezed her hand in a futile gesture of comfort. "And even if you were, who'd care? I wouldn't"

"Thanks" she smiled sadly, releasing my hand and taking hers out of my grasp.

The rest of the journey to Lera passed in silence. Gadot avoided a few huddles of slum dwellers, but I made sure to drop a few gil near them. It was unbearable to see people looking for scraps of food in bins, like they were, when I held so much money.

"Maqui" Gadot raised a hand, catching the attention of another NORA member, "Need to see Lera. She ready?"

"Ready as she'll ever be. I'm telling you, to her, even the slightest movement's the same as an Adamantoise trampling in." a white haired youth replied, jumping off a balcony mounted on what seemed to be the wall of the dome.

It was easy to think of Maqui as a child when he was older than me. I guess the l'Cie incident four years ago had shaped me more than I thought: I saw him as he was back then.

Maqui tapped a button in the headphones he always wore, illuminating a bulb high up the wall. There was a slow groaning as gears turned beneath the mesh floor.

"No one's supposed to be down there" Gadot supplied the information; "it's machinery to keep the dome running. Great hiding place."

A blue haired man beneath the grating appeared from behind a cog, pulling a lever that looked as if it was just part of the machinery. The thick metal wall in front of us crumpled back, revealing a gap just big enough to slip into, that lead below the floor.

"Go on then" Gadot gestured for us to continue.

Asura went first, quickly and keenly jumping into the gap. I followed; she was perpetually excited about meeting Lera, but the rest of the time she moped about whatever the paper said. To tell the truth, it was confusing.

Maqui his the button on his headphones again, and the lever Yuj had previously pulled snapped back without Yuj touching it. The gears slowed to their normal pace, and the wall slid back into place.

Yuj clambered over to us, before taking Asura's hand and gently leading her down through the mess of gears. I felt a pang of jealously, eased when Asura yanked her hand from his grasp.

We descended two or so floors onto a solid, opaque surface just above houses on a lower floor. Yuj nodded to us, smiling a little, before he climbed a ladder into the jungle of cogs.

A tense few seconds passed before a woman walked out from behind a huge cog.

"Asura?" she asked tentatively. She nodded. "I'm Lera"

She was youngish-mid twenties-dressed in a pale white robe, one that was sealed tightly over her front with an elaborate red and gold brooch, one depicting the fal'Cie Titan. Her face was the only part of her visible, and even that only barely; the robe's hems fitted snugly right beneath her chin, and a red lined, white hood was pulled over most of her head. Only a few strands of pale blond hair were visible, sneaking out past the hood.

"You're here about the Surtr" Lera sighed, sitting on a bronze spoke and sighing. "I thought I'd escaped their shadow for good"

"Who are they?" I sat on an axel, unlike Asura who continued pacing.

"The Surtr? Worshippers of darkness. The Gran Pulsian people are the equal of the fal'Cie, and we respect their rights and their will. The Surtr hold such loyalty to just one being. They think our use of the fal'Cie as transport or as miners gives us status superior to theirs. They give their loyalty to one superior"

"The Maker?" Asura stopped pacing and demanded an answer from Lera

"No. To them, the Maker is just a fal'Cie fancy, constrained and limited. To them, the Maker is just another fal'Cie, one who brands fal'Cie and not humans. No, they consider themselves equal to another, one they aspire to be like. The fact you're telling me their name at the time violence against both Cocoon and Gran Pulse is at its strongest since the War of Transgression does not bode well. Especially if you are really who Gadot says you are" Lera turned her pale, milky blue eyes to Asura.

"I'm Vanille's daughter if that's what you mean, yeah"

"Which cannot be so, unless the myths of the Shor'ack are true"

"They're not" Asura snapped, tone laced with fear.

"You know what Shor'ack means?" I exclaimed at the same time.

"Of course I know of the Shor'ack" Lera gave a bitter smile, "my brother joined the Surtr. He would never cease spouting the ideals of that pathetic organization; the Shor'ack featured highly in that, incredibly highly one week ago. Since then, I've been hiding. He told me too much, he said, he came after me. The organization's more important to him than his family"

"What are the Shor'ack?" I asked. Asura shot a panicked look back at me.

"It is not my place to say" Lera conceded, "let this daughter of Vanille tell you, when she remembers. Are you not here to discuss my brother and the Surtr?"

"Good point" I refocused back on the correct topic. "Who is it they worship?"

"Not worship as such" Lera corrected, "only admire, which turns often into a fanatical devotion resembling worship. They try to be like the destroyer, Ragnarok"

I sucked in a breath, and Asura took the opportunity to speak.

"Why are they after me?"

"I think you already know the answer, my dear. You are Shor'ack, whether you admit it or not. My brother has but one advantage; he stole from the Sanctum, a device assembled to detect Shor'ack, and since you stepped into this room, it has been active." Lera lifted up a small, grey/brown sphere, with a band of pale orange light shining from the centre.

Asura staggered back, falling to sit onto an axel.

"I am truly sorry" Lera closed her eyes and looked down, "but you cannot deny what you are"

"Don't worry" I said, this time speaking to the suddenly downcast Asura. "Remember what you said; I don't care if you're a Shor'ack or whatever, you're still you"

Asura turned up, to look at me, a grateful smile on her face.

"You don't know" Lera sighed.

Asura sidled across a few axels, until she was sitting next to me. I smiled, resting my hand on hers. She made no effort to push it off. We looked at each other, into each other's eyes for a few minutes. I saw the fear within Asura, the fear of rejection and of herself.

"Don't worry" I whispered, breathless.

She softly smiled.

"Something else" Lera interrupted us. Moment shattered, we looked back at her. "I heard but one more thing from my brother; he awoke, like other l'Cie, but he also awoke on the Vestige within Cocoon. He heard of Ragnarok there, and saw the creature break its purpose"

"So?" I frowned

"He's furious with the two Chosen, Oerba Dia Vanille and Oerba Yun Fang. But he aspires to be like Ragnarok, which is why he accepted a Focus from Anima originally. Now he wants to resurrect the two Chosen. He wants to bring Vanille and Fang out of crystal sleep"

"What?" I slowly broke into a smile, as Asura did next to me. The Surtr were bringing Vanille and Fang back? I grinned, ear to ear.

"No" Lera sighed, "If only it was that simple. The instant the Chosen breathe again, my brother wishes to kill them. And that is not all. Once the crystal stasis has gone, and the spell is broken, then Cocoon will have nothing holding it aloft. Cocoon will fall and Gran Pulse will die."

I froze suddenly. That was what the Surtr were planning. To kill Vanille and Fang, and to bring down Cocoon….

"Who is your brother?" Asura asked, trying to bring the conversation back to an understandable level.

"Don't show him any pity" Lera chuckled. "His name's Garmr, head of the Surtr."

Asura's POV

I knew I remembered that name. Garmr. I'd met him back on Cocoon, after…awaking? That wasn't even the right term, I knew that. I didn't even know if that was real or a fabrication. I was Shor'ack, even as hard as that was to admit. I thought I was Asura but…I was Shor'ack. I couldn't even think the modern word. Not when I still firmly believed, firmly felt, I was Asura.

Garmr.

The word still sent shivers down my spine. Was it because I'd really met him, or because I knew who he was, what he stood for, and incorporated him into a fake memory?

Fake memories. How much of my past was fake, constructed for a Shor'ack delusion?

But while I was here, I had to live like Asura. Eat, drink, breathe, sleep, think, feel, live, love, like Asura. I was Asura in the here and now, so I'll behave like her. Save Cocoon.

Focus on Cocoon. What should we do? Where are the Surtr attacking? We need to find out how the Surtr were going to hurt Cocoon. How was I involved? Even a…Shor'ack couldn't manage that.

Look at me. I'd done so much to convince myself I wasn't Shor'ack, but even after that, I heard truth ring in Lera's words. The Sanctum device proved it, and Hope's papers defined me as a Shor'ack. Which meant my past was a lie, a construction. Meant Vanille wasn't…

I just couldn't feel it though. I felt so…so…human.

"Asura?" Hope frowned a little, turning to me, speaking softly. His hand squeezed mine slightly. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, sure" I nodded, trembling.

Our faces were centimetres apart.

"I know what you're thinking" Hope sighed

"Doesn't take a genius" I let out a slow breath, "it's been on my mind for the last day"

"Shor'ack" Hope closed his eyes, resigned. "I don't know what it means, and I don't care. You're still Asura to me: still the woman who saved my father"

"Even if you don't know how?"

"Even if I don't know how" Hope nodded.

At some point Lera had left the room created by cogs and axels, leaving me alone with Hope. She could probably sense the mood.

I leant slightly closer to Hope, the whirring of the gears now seeming far off. We were alone here, just, purely, alone. For that lone moment, Hope's shiny green eyes were my world.

We moved closer, separated by the thinnest barrier of air, and I could tell we both felt the same thing, the same uncontrollable urge. Our lips came tantalizingly close, almost touching.

One thing the Surtr had said came into my mind, unbidden, unwanted. Strong emotion. A strong emotion for me to awake. What emotion was stronger than this?

Our lips brushed, touching for a split second

And I remembered.

I let out a shriek as the images burned through my eyes, and I threw myself back, giving up at the prospect of the kiss as I curled up metres away, on the cold, harsh metal floor.

I just wanted to stay like this, a tiny ball, to die. I hated myself. I'd lived a lie, and allowed myself to believe it, allowed Hope to believe it and be sucked up into my delusion. Vanille wasn't my mother, well, only in a superficial sense. I may have taken aspects of my appearance from her, from her and Fang, but that didn't make them my parents.

"I remember" I squeaked, disgusted with myself.

"W-what?" Hope stuttered, confused. Who'd blame him.?

"You should be happy. It's what the paper said, how I helped your father, it's what the Surtr meant. I know why…how"

"I said I didn't care, Asura-"

"Don't call me that!"

"What? Why?"

"It's a lie, it's not my name"

"Huh? But you said-" Hope froze

"I know what I said: it was a lie. It was all a lie. Asura is not real, I…I am not real" I took in a deep breath. "Shor'ack is an old word, an old, old word."

"I don't care who you are" Hope got up, moving to kneel over me

"Don't touch me!" I moved away, "you wouldn't if you knew who I was"

"Then tell me" Hope whispered, soothingly.

I sat, up, to look straight into his eyes. I couldn't quite believe I was going to say it.

"I…I'm a fal'Cie" I forced the words out. "You knew me as…my…my name is A-Anima."


	10. The Past

**I don't think this is my best chapter yet, but it explains how Asura is Anima. Sorry if the ending's a little rushed.**

Anima's POV

_Four Years Ago, Anima's Vestige_

The victims had attacked and I, however selfishly, had done the only thing I could manage. I turned them into l'Cie, for it was all I could do. I, myself, was already branded with a Focus. Like the fal'Cie of Cocoon, I had a task; to destroy the floating shell.

And thus I had given my legacy; Ragnarok. But I wasn't happy. I'd seen their lives, seen the humans surviving on Cocoon, and knew. They did not deserve to die. But still, as a fal'Cie, I had no choice but to continue with my Focus.

And yet I felt guilt, guilt for the blood spilt in my name. Who was I to give others death?

Then I remembered the myth. As my Vestige was falling, and I had no hope of anything left, I remembered. A fal'Cie could turn to a human form, if they were willing to give up much of their powers, not all by a long way, but a great deal. I could turn into a human being, permanently, if I had to. But, in that form, I'd be weak. I'd have a little of my old powers, but I'd be little more than a strong l'Cie.

It was my only chance of survival and really, I relished it. The Maker had given us the ability to transform to the other of Her creations: humanity. Now, on the verge of death, I felt the necessity of it. My Focus would be lost, along with my fal'Cie form, but I would at last experience that which fal'Cie had sought after. Mortality.

We were immortal, unless we met our end by the blade of a l'Cie or human, but no one wished to die through violence. If I was willing however, to become human permanently, unlike that pretender Barthendelus, I could suffer my penance, and at long last, die.

I'd lived too long. What fal'Cie could not say the same?

And so, I did what I had to, not merely to experience the sensations of humanity, but as my only chance to live-how ironic, living for the purpose of dying in peace-past the demise of my Vestige.

I drew what energy I could from the shell, feeling it turn to crystal, as I focused on a form. I needed some body, some body to fabricate and live in. A human body.

I already had a template, I remembered. Two Gran Pulsians had slumbered near me for centuries: I could recall even the slightest detail of their forms.

Oerba Dia Vanille and Oerba Yun Fang.

Think of them. Remember them. Carve their very imprints into your genes Anima. No, not Anima. I was…Asura.

I opened my barely present mouth to scream, agony ripping through me as my body fell away, breaking and cracking, and my new vessel rippled and moulded itself, changing.

A new life, with the two l'Cie remembered in my shining, artificially organic body. Indistinguishable from any bother human's, though I still possessed an echo of my former powers. Like a l'Cie, a l'Cie without a brand.

"I am Asura" I spoke my first words with the human mouth, the edges of my lips curling upwards as I heard my own accent. High pitched, a lot more than I used to be.

Asura's POV

_Cocoon City_

"You see" I was standing now, looking down at the sitting Hope; I was showing him my memories by putting the images straight in his head. Fal'Cie smoke and mirrors. A tear fell down my cheek. "Asura was, is, a lie, a fabrication. I created her just as a vessel. How else would I have lived?"

"I don't believe that and you don't" Hope stood up, stepping closer to me. I moved back. "Asura lived for years" he continued, "you can't tell me that means nothing. She is as real as you or me"

"She wouldn't exist if it wasn't for fear" I shot back, recounting the events.

Anima's POV

_Lake Bresha, Four Years Ago_

I got to my feet, stumbling over the slippery ground. Ice? No, the feel was all, wrong, crystal? That was more like it. Had I done that? Had the rest of my body turned to crystal when I transformed? I hadn't heard of a fal'Cie turning to crystal after death before. It might've been my transformation I suppose.

"Hello, Asura" I spoke the words, trying to get used to this new form. I took note of a distorted reflection in the crystal; my hair was the same shade as Fang's, but it was styled like Vanille's, and my eyes were the same piercing green as Vanille's also. A blend of the two of them. How quaint.

I felt around my body, glad to notice I'd successfully fabricated clothing. Yet again, a fusion of Vanille and Fang. I wore a version of Fang's sari, coloured like Vanille's. I unclipped the bracelets that were jangling up and down my arms. I didn't quite know how Vanille stood it; they could be very annoying.

What else did I have? I closed my eyes, trying to figure out this new form. My hair felt odd; I guess the two colours hadn't mixed properly. I tried to conjure up a mirror before cursing myself; I lost that power. What abilities did I have?

I focused, seeing what I could actually manage. My hand rolled limply, wrist twirling. Nothing. Whew, guess that kind of magic was out of the question. I brought my hand down in a chopping motion, gasping as I hit the cool crystal. That didn't work.

So, recap. I was human, body wise at least, and I had none of my powers. Sounds fun.

"Be prepared for your new life" I told my reflection, brushing the patches of orange hair I had at the side of my head. This body could take a while to get used to. And what was with the _hair? _I couldn't get one constant colour, no, that would be too simple. Instead I get Fang's black with Vanille's shade of orange splashed over the sides like some mad halo.

Far above me, I could see the Hanging Edge burn, much wrecked by PSICOM, and much harmed by me. Some of it was crystal, but most of it was still whatever material it used to be. Flawed, damaged. I was glad I'd constructed this new form down here; I wouldn't want to be up there. Especially when I'd given myself such ridiculous hair.

Five people were falling. I did a double take, focusing in on them. Yes, five people. I recognized them; they were the ones who I'd branded.

"No!" the word was ripped from my lips, unwillingly, and without thinking I reached out with one hand. My reach was pitifully inadequate: still almost kilometres away, but I felt a sudden drain of energy, and I fell to my knees. But somehow I felt satisfied.

Was that my magic now? Had I saved the five of them, out of pity? Did human emotions give rise to my fal'Cie power?

Oh Maker, you have such a sense of humour. To be like I used to be, I must further continue to be human.

_Perhaps she saw. Yeah, she had to: couldn't miss it. _

The voice pealed in my head. I turned around, to see a tallish man skid down the crystal slope.

"Hey there!" he called. He sounded cheerful, but I had the overwhelming sense of something hidden, untrustworthy.

"What did you say just now?" I spoke too quickly; literally, I garbled my words. I spoke again, trying to sound clearer. God, I wasn't used to this, and with this man, this frankly scary man…

I felt like a child. Well, I suppose I was. New body, new life. New everything. A new world, covered in new crystal. And a new Ragnarok too. Guilt washed over me for the Focus I had given the five I'd just saved.

"I didn't say anything" the man looked at me oddly and, though his voice was slow and formal, I didn't have it in me to trust him.

Was that another ability of mine? Excluding my emotionally charged magicks, did I have some superhuman fal'Cie instinct?

_That's odd. What did she think I said? And what is it with her hair?_

"Stop it" I groaned, "Yes, my hair's ridiculous. I didn't choose it"

"What?" the man looked at me, his eyes widening. I felt a spike of charged anger shoot from him.

_Who is she kidding? _

Then I noticed. His lips weren't moving.

Real subtle Asura, just go and read a stranger's mind to convince the world you're a normal human. Man… Odd, I thought the word as a punishment, but a necessity, a while ago, now I would've done anything to possess what they called humanity.

I was Asura, not Anima.

"Look, can we begin again?" I sighed, exasperated.

_Odd. _

I didn't reply to his thoughts.

"That would be a good idea. So, how long have you been here?" the stranger asked

"Quite a while, you?"

"Plenty of time. Heard about a commotion up in Bodhum, some fal'Cie unearthed. I had to see it for myself, but I guess I won't get the chance now" he gestured up to the flaming Hanging Edge.

"Mm" I nodded, not trusting myself to speak

"Did you see Anima die?"

"W-what?" I stuttered at his abrupt question. He knew my- no, he knew the fal'Cie's name?

"Did you see Anima die? Oh come on, you didn't think you were the only Gran Pulsian who snuck a ride through a transgate, did you?"

"I guess" I murmured, shaky. I guess the blend of accents I had did make it obvious. "I don't see how anything could survive that" I answered his first question. I didn't trust myself lying in this new body.

"Pity" the man mused. "I could've sworn something landed here."

"How did you get here?" the question stole past my lips, spurred on by this insatiable human curiosity

"Same way as you I imagine" he chuckled, "Stowed away in the stasis chambers on the Ark, warped through Cocoon via transgate. Wouldn't want to be seen. Tell you what though: whoever reactivated the Ark is planning something big. That is how you got here, right?"

"`Course" I nodded, the lie feeling obvious in my squeaky voice.

This man was from the Ark era? He'd been asleep all this time, right from when they'd built and hidden the Arks… I almost felt a pang of sympathy for the man, if I wasn't so inexplicably repulsed.

I tried to see what I could remember about the Arks. They were armouries, preserved weapons and beasts for some future war. The entire contents of the Arks were put into a variant on crystal stasis, to be reawaken by someone at a later date. I guess someone had done just that.

"What's your name?" the man lifted my chin with a hooked finger, peering into my eyes with an almost scientific curiosity.

"A-Asura" I almost gave the wrong name, but I didn't, not quite.

"Interesting" the man let my head drop. "I'm Garmr, from Methu Pulse as you can tell. And I've heard of an Asura. It was the archaic name for the fal'Cie known as Anima. And I've heard of the rumours; fal'Cie that could turn human. So, Asura" Garmr stepped closer, roughly gripping my shoulder, digging his fingers into my flesh, and yanking my chin until he was glaring in my eyes. "Are you Anima?"

"I grunted, a shriek sounding like it came from a wounded animal came from my throat, and Garmr took a few steps back.

"You need physical contact to brand me" he spat, glaring back at me, "but I guess that answers my question" he laughed, almost madly.

"Once a Methu Pulsian" Garmr let out a smooth breath, reaching down the side of his skirt-like robes, "always a Methu-Pulsian" he withdrew his hand, clasping a thin, curved, lethal looking blade about as long as my new forearm.

Garmr took one step towards me. Unthinkingly, I thrust both my arms out forwards, fingers splayed.

The effect was instant, and pretty dramatic. Garmr was lifted up several metres from the ground, and flung back over hills made from the crystal. He flew over the land, until he hit the ground at some unseen distance.

This was what my emotions could do? I didn't know whether to be happy or scared. I had no control over it: and what would that mean? In this body, anything could drive me over the edge. Then, bang. Fal'Cie magic restored for a second, an explosion of force.

No.

I didn't want that. Perhaps there was some way to suppress the power?

I was scared, I'd be the first person to admit that, but I couldn't let that distract me. There had to be some way to prevent these bursts of emotion shattering my control over fal'Cie skills.

I frowned, just remembering. Garmr. When I first heard him, he hadn't been speaking. I'd read his mind; I knew that instinctively. Did that mean I was telepathically attuned or something bizarre like that? I could affect minds?

I'd heard about that, in rumours, most from the distant past, some even before the Methu Pulsian era. Some fal'Cie could edit a person's memories, in a way similar to how they gave Foci. The vision after being branded, it was some psychic afterimage of the Focus. Some fal'Cie could channel this energy, editing the minds and memories of a person. Had my transformation into a human form made me better at it?

A reptilian looking puffed up frog creature hopped past. More out of curiosity than anything, I reached out to it and lightly touched its side. My emotions weren't running high right now, but then again I was pretty calm when I read Garmr's mind. I guess some abilities I could access without being mad.

A few wisps of energy escaped through my fingers. I felt a sudden pang of guilt as I saw a series of black arrows form on the scaled skin. I'd branded it with the mark of a l'Cie. Yet another life ruined.

"No" I whispered, brushing my fingers over the mark. A dull pounding started in my head, lasting a few seconds, but as I took my hand away, the brand had gone.

I guess I could give and take brands.

Maybe it would work on other l'Cie, even if they were branded by other fal'Cie. Yes, that was a task, something to do. A new Focus. How ironic.

Asura's POV

_Cocoon City_

"You see?" I fell to the floor, expecting Hope to hate me. He had to; after all, it was me who branded him, me who branded his friends. I was the one who killed his mother, not Snow as he'd thought.

"I don't know what you're trying to prove." Hope sighed, slumping next to me. I made a move to scramble away, but he grabbed my wrist with his hand, restraining me with insistent gentleness.

"I'm not who you think I am" I gave up trying to move away, and instead settled a metre or so away from Hope, arm still held by him.

"Prove it"

"What?" I frowned, turning

"I remember what Anima used to look like. Turn into that"

"I…I can't. The transformation was permanent"

"So, what you're saying is, you're human"

"In body only. My mind is fal'Cie"

"It wasn't ten minutes ago"

"It was, can't you understand that? How do you think I saved your dad? How do you think I got out of that Cocoon rally where we first met? By being fal'Cie"

"Really?" Hope seemed almost challenging

"Yes, really"

"Then why were you so upset at the paper that said Shor'ack?"

"Because…that was my mind. It used to be me, it is no longer me"

"There's one thing though" Hope murmured; "everyone from Pulse woke up once we defeated Orphan, but how? Fang and Vanille didn't wake up."

"So?"

"It was you, wasn't it? Dysley read our Foci even though he wasn't the one who branded us. Fal'Cie seem to have some control over the other brands, and you managed to save the reptile thing you branded"

"What if I did? Alright, so I helped the crystallized l'Cie breathe again. The fact I did that shows you that I'm not like you. I can't be"

"Name one fal'Cie who'd save billions of l'Cie."

"I…"

Anima's POV

_Four years ago, CrystalPoint_

Stunning.

The l'Cie had completed the Focus I'd reluctantly given them, and still found a way to save Cocoon. The two oldest l'Cie, oh how well I remembered them, were now frozen eternally, supporting Cocoon with their own crystalline bodies.

But now…

The four others were around me, like scattered shards of a broken toy. They were crystal, like to many others I'd saved.

Sazh, still posing with guns pointing towards a now lost foe, blank eyes focusing on thin air. His chocobo was perched, still alive, on his crystal afro.

Hope, boomerang dropped and resting by his feet, as he stood still, almost serene, watching the crystal support of Cocoon through glassy eyes. One hand was on his heart, the other by his side, as he watched, and yet didn't see, the inhabitants of Cocoon be evacuated.

Snow was standing simply, arms hung down by his sides, eyes closed, wishing and wanting the ordeal to soon be over. Serah's crystal tear was firmly clasped in his right hand.

And finally, the reserved and yet compassionate leader, Lightning. She had her hair whipped over her face, frozen peacefully, while she looked to the skies.

For the first time since I had this body, a tear fell down my face, sliding over my cheek. I had done this.

"Forgive me" I whispered. This was all my fault.

There was one way I could repay them though: I still had a connection to all my l'Cie, even those in crystal sleep.

"Speak, say what you have to" I murmured, tearful, as I touching the back of Lightning's crystal.

Vanille and Fang spoke through me, saying what they had to. I didn't know if they'd get another chance.

And, with that last wish fulfilled, I inhaled deeply, and ran off. I didn't want them to see me, or find me, now I'd freed them. I blamed myself for this, but I couldn't bear to feel another's blame. Odd. Perhaps a quirk of the human mind.

I fell to my knees, sobbing, at a great distance. With just a thought I did what I could for one last gift, one last apology. Serah and Dajh. The emotions coursing through me at that moment were enough to free most of the l'Cie on this landmass, but I made sure to save those two. One of the many things I would have to do, to repent.

Serah, Dajh, be free.

I fell to the ground, lying face down in the dirt. I had done this… These emotions were unbearable, but I'd put myself through them. I'd survive. I had to.

"How touching" a voice sneered.

I turned my head a little, not to get up, but just enough to speak. "Garmr" I murmured as I saw him.

"I was certain, and right, as always. You are Anima"

"I…yes" I sat up, still crying for my sins

"Don't cry, fal'Cie cannot feel. It looks like we'll need you after all"

"You…" I scrambled away from him, hitting the ground often as I tried to get to my feet. Garmr followed with ease.

"You know you can't escape. I am but one." He was walking at a slightly accelerated pace now, moving faster than my awkward gallop.

"I can try" a replied, feeling the hopelessness of my escape but continuing with it nonetheless.

"Perseverance? That's so unlike you, Anima" Garmr chuckled, "You're becoming more and more human. Well, with that body, who's surprised? Let's see how you fare with different odds. Surtr!" he shouted the last word.

They came out of the trees and earth, like shadows, people concealed immeasurably well in the dirt and vegetation. The Surtr, if Garmr's call was right. Fear spurred my legs on, and I managed to get to my feet, still moving awkwardly. It was meant to take years to learn how to walk; I'd only been human for weeks. Still didn't have the hang of it.

"Stop her" Garmr's voice was more even now, calm, assured. I still hated it; I could feel the malice behind it.

I weaved past a pair of the Surtr, ducked under another, before I tripped over another's leg. Sprawling across the ground, I squirmed, pulling myself ahead before I felt a gloved hand grip my ankle.

"Gloves don't manage much" I muttered, concentrating. The woman recoiled as if burned, and I knew that now, on her wrist, was the mark of a l'Cie. Her Focus: to take one more breath. I saw her turn to crystal, less than a second after she recoiled.

"Crystal?" Garmr seemed almost amused; "Aren't you fal'Cie supposed to make Cie'th?"

"Don't tempt me" I got up again, watching the Surtr recoil as I reached out for them.

They were scared of becoming l'Cie.

"Unlike you" I turned to Garmr, "I have a heart" I made an odd gesture with my hand, just for the sake of it really, and brought the crystalline Surtr woman back to life, with no brand. She looked at me, slightly amazed, before I turned away. I was heading for the Cocoon refugees, maybe I'll have a home there, somehow.

A sharp pain pierced the back of my neck. I slapped my hand onto it, feeling a small dart of some kind. I yanked it out, screaming slightly as I did so. A ripple of energy passed out of me with that cry, and the Surtr recoiled, Garmr holding a blowpipe of some kind.

This wasn't going to end. As long as I was Anima they'd keep coming after me, for whatever I could do, and I didn't want to kill them. I was no fal'Cie, not any more.

That's when I made the decision. I was Asura, not Anima. So why not live like that?

Another stabbing pain hit my shoulder, and I fell to the ground, some sort of drug coursing through my system. I did my best to hold it off, but failed. Human body; human weaknesses, frailties.

The last thing I saw as I closed my eyes was Garmr, as he reached towards me.

Asura's POV

_Cocoon City_

"You're telling me one thing, but your past is saying another" Hope sighed, as he finished reliving my memories.

"What do you mean?" I frowned, trying to ply my arm out from his grasp.

"You're telling me that you're a fal'Cie, when you're body is human and you did everything you could to become more human."

"You said it: to become human. It means I'm not"

"It means you weren't: you are now"

"I'm not! I wish I was but I'm not, I won't be. Keep saying whatever you want hope, it doesn't change the fact I'm a fal'Cie"

"Who's saying that, Anima or Asura?"

"A-" I stopped, mid-word. Who was talking?

"You say you can read minds?" Hope's voice was softer now.

"Mm" I nodded, at last succeeding it getting my hand out of his grasp.

"Read mine"

I looked at Hope, frowning.

_I don't care who or what you are. You'll always be Asura to me._

"Oh, Hope" my head collapsed into my hands.

Anima's POV

_Four years ago, near Crystal Point_

Garmr and the Surtr had captured me about a week ago, and I hadn't tried to escape. Penance for all those lives I'd trapped, but Garmr was still trying to control me, using transgates to warp to Cocoon and steal from Sanctum research facilities.

He wanted me to do something, but he hadn't told me what yet and frankly, it was getting annoying.

"They're building a city, you know" Garmr sat outside my cell. Along with the rest of the Surtr, they'd made a hideaway in an old mining tunnel, using the miners' quarters as a prison cell for me. The door was made of bars alone, and firmly locked. The rest of my cell was a thin mattress, pale, dirty walls and a light emanating from outside the room.

"Who are?" I sighed back at Garmr, not changing position: I was lying on the bed, facing the dirty ceiling.

"Cocoon pets." He said the words with a savage hate, "They're not too far from here." He paused, expectantly. "Holy Pulse, you have changed haven't you? A month ago and you'd have gone after the city, with your without your full powers" he laughed

"You need me for something" I wasn't in the mood for games. "What?"

"You don't beat around the bush. You'll just have to see: I don't think you'd obey us given your current mood, so we'll have to find some way to make you obey. Until then, stay put" he gave a small, sinister smile from through the bars.

"I could stop you, you know"

"Yeah? And how's that?" he stuck a hand through the bars. I seized the moment, leaping and touching his palm, focusing on branding him.

"Won't work" he laughed: "thought you'd try something again, so I brought a little something" he took out a cracked piece of crystal. "this comes from the crystal supports around Cocoon, your l'Cie. Their aura is protecting me and every other Surtr from your magic."

"That's only one thing I could do" I sighed, leaning back and sitting, knees pulled up to my chin, by the bed.

"What else do you intend to try?"

"Well, I could always change my memories so I'm completely human. You need my fal'Cie powers for whatever you're planning, so that'll stop you"

"True enough, but if you change in there then you'll never get out. We'll have as long as we need to find a way to get you to wake up again, and once we do that we'll have also discovered a way to control you. The pet scientists up in Cocoon do have a few good tricks"

"Hee, didn't think so" an odd giggle passed my lips

"What is it?" Garmr seemed on guard.

"I can't brand you. I can brand something else though2 I giggled a little, again.

"What?" Garmr stood up, looking around for spell-casting insects or something.

I showed my forearm to him. "Me."

It had taken me the last week to make; an approximation of my l'Cie brand, inked on using the dye in the mattress, my clothes and a little ash from burning the mattress on one frustrated night. From Garmr's distance, it was indistinguishable from the real thing.

But here was the tougher part of the plan.

Garmr walked into the cell, rushing over to me. He seemed concerned, afraid he'd lose his trump card. I concentrated on him, recalling every detail of his appearance and focusing on the revulsion I felt in his thoughts, behind each of his words…

The floor below me cracked, opening up, and sand trickled through, from distant sources and near alike. I was surrounded by a blinding light, one so bright Garmr stopped several steps away. The plan was working; so far, so good. I felt the sand form a shell around me, hugging my form, and I summoned all the other elements I need to make this realistic. Once I was done, I called upon a sheet of flame, running over me. The heat was slightly too hot for comfort, but just about bearable. Until…

I closed my eyes; I couldn't see out anyway. I'd constructed a shell of glass, tinted glass so that I wasn't visible within. The shades of clear and blue made it indistinguishable from a true crystal stasis. And there was a thin hole between two fingers; an air hole, so I could breathe.

Now I just had to hope Garmr would lug my façade crystal out of here before I died of thirst. Good work so far, Asura!

Asura's POV

_Cocoon City_

"Now that's a good one!" Hope laughed, sitting back on an axel. "You tricked him into thinking you were a l'Cie, and put yourself in a fake crystal just to escape? We should've thought of that!"

"I wouldn't advise it" I smiled a little at his cheerfulness, "Very uncomfortable. I was in there for about a day, getting bored out of my head."

"What happened next? I'm curios now" Hope moved over to me, taking my hand in his. I focused, sending him the thoughts and images again.

Anima's POV

_Four years ago, Cocoon City Outskirts_

"Idiot!" some nameless Surtr fumed outside, kicking my glass/crystal tomb. Was it almost time to escape? I hoped so, it was getting stuffy.

"You go then. I can handle this myself" Garmr sighed. I felt my faux crystal roll down some hill, followed by a thump as I landed, and a thump as something landed on top of me. I opened my eyes, to see something black, blurred through the glass shell, spread over me. He was burying me!

"Ragnarok" I heard Garmr state, in some kind of speech. "Come day of wrath, O Pulse l'Cie, embrace thy fate, thine home to burn" I couldn't bear to hear any more of Garmr's speech.

I felt the sick fear, a human worry, envelope me, and I used that to my advantage, feeling magic surge through me. The crystal shattered, and I clambered out of the tomb, sprinting away. I turned momentarily, slightly thankful to see it was only Garmr pursuing me.

"Stop, Anima!" he shouted

"No!" I yelled back, scrabbling over the uneven ground. "My name is Asura!" I brought my right hand up, touching it to my forehead. Not the best circumstances for it, but I was struggling to run as it was. A little more distraction wouldn't hurt.

I skimmed trough my memories, taking my own memories of Oerba, along with Fang and Vanille's. I needed a past, so I threw one together quickly, not caring how historically accurate it was right now. Garmr was chasing me; not the best time to go through history.

I let out a gasp of relief as the fake memories were completed

. just one more thing to do; erase my own, replace them. Though I wouldn't be erasing them, just blocking them off. A strong emotion might break through the seal, like it was with my powers, but at the very least I'd be human for a while.

Human…

A felt a searing pain in the back of my neck as I fell to the ground. Garmr and his blowpipe.

I was already losing consciousness, but I wouldn't be the one to lose this battle. Not now; not ever. I'd beat Garmr on this point.

"My name is" I whispered weakly into the soil,, vision blurring. The memory transfer was almost complete.

"Asura" I whispered blissfully, before falling into a deep sleep.

Asura's POV

_Cocoon City_

"And?" Hope asked, frowning.

"That's it; you know the rest. My parents picked me up, well, adoptive parents. Skip forward four years and here we are"

"I still don't care"

I sighed, collapsing onto the axel next to him, "You're so stubborn"

But in truth, I couldn't blame him now. The trek through my memories had affected me as well; I saw how much I'd given up to become human, saw the sacrifices made. Why had I done all that, only to shatter at the return of my memory?

Was it… the question was what I'd dreamed, but it still hurt to think. Was it because I was human? Were those four years enough to make Asura a real human, someone in her own right, rather than a reflection of Anima?

In which case, who was I now? Asura or Anima? Or both, both minds in one body.

But that was wrong: there shouldn't be two people in one body. There could only be one: so one would have to relinquish control. I guess…

"Hope, who would you rather have?" I turned to him

"Huh?"

"Anima or Asura? I can seal off my memories again. There are two people in me; you showed me that, Hope, Anima the fal'Cie and Asura the human. Only one can really be alive at a time, and I need you to choose which"

"Do you need to ask?" Hope chuckled; "Asura, it's got to be Asura. That's who only ever really belonged in that body"

"I…I guess. Never thought of it that way" I smiled slightly.

"See: you're acting like her already!" Hope seemed triumphant almost. I locked eyes with him, faces, lips mere centimetres apart.

Oh, so hard to resist…

I rested two fingers lightly on his lips, and gently pushed him away. "Don't" I sighed, "I'm disgusted with myself right now. I lied to you"

"You're not back at that again are you?" Hope closed his eyes; "It wasn't a lie. Everything you said was true, for Asura"

"Thank you" I whispered, before collapsing down, landing by assisted accident in his arms.

My name is Asura, human. I am not Anima, fal'Cie, any more. Memories…gone.

I am Asura.

Hope's POV

A low voice in the distance started murmuring. Asura sat bolt up right.

"W-what happened?" she looked around, confused. She was back!

"Woke up then?" Lera paced back into the room, "Garmr said you should" she was murmuring something under her breath.

Asura slipped out of my arms, sitting on the axel next to me again.

"What'd you mean?" she asked. Her voice was higher now, giving me the last proof I needed that she was Asura now, and not Anima.

"Strong emotion; it looked like that just now. You passed out"

"She went back to normal" I replied, finally realizing what Lera was talking about. I tried to sound vague, for Asura's sake.

"You idiot!" Lera half shouted, glaring at me.

I froze.

Those words, spoken that specific way. I'd heard them before, in Asura's memories.

"You were with the Surtr" I murmured, slightly scared to tell the truth. Lera was lying. Her brother may have been Garmr, I didn't know, but one thing I could tell: she was still with the Surtr. She wanted Asura to wake up, for whatever reason they had. Lera was with the Surtr.

"Yes I was. Did she show you her real past? But to change back to a human, twice, that's bizarre, Garmr won't like that, so we'll have to change you back"

"What?" Asura looked from me to Lera, eyes wide. She didn't understand any of this.

"Shor'ack" Lera spat. The change in her features was remarkable; she'd gone from being calm, collected, to being pretty insane.

"What's that?" Asura looked strangely at Lera,

"Methu Pulsian, don't act like you don't understand"

"I…I don't speak that language" Asura sighed. She still looked a little disorientated from her memories being sealed off, but I guess it was understandable.

"Fear counts as a strong emotion" Lera sighed, "or sadness. Maybe I could kill Hope"

"What? No!" Asura leapt up, fighting off her dizziness. I stood up next to her, facing off with Lera.

She started laughing. "Oh, this is priceless!" she reached into her robe, taking out a short, curved knife.

"Ragnarok" she murmured, chanting almost as she stepped closer, "Come day of wrath, O Pulse l'Cie, embrace thy fate, thine home to burn" he moved closer, making Asura and I back up against the wall together, hands entwined.

"Ragnarok, deliver the divine" Lera gave a small, eerie smile as she lifted the knife.

**Cliffhanger, much? Hee hee...**

**If anyone's wondering, the lyrics Garmr and Lera were chanting come from Ragnarok's Theme in FFXIII. **


	11. New World

**We're almost at the end, just a couple more parts... Thanks to those that've stuck with me, thanks to the hundred or so readers that didn't review, but more thanks if you _do _review (hee hee) and anyway, part 11, the calm before the storm really. Not my best part, I just really wanted to move on to the finale. It's dramatic, you can trust me on that!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the lyrics to the anthem she's chanting. I do own her though, MWAHAHAHAHAAA! Ahem. I also don't own FFXIII, but if I did, oh, if I did...**

Asura's POV

Bang.

I watched Lera, knife raised, almost stab at Hope, before she froze where she was.

Bang.

She gasped, dropping the knife, as she looked down. Blood was seeping through her robe. She fell to the floor. I looked up, relieved, to see Gadot standing, holding a gun.

"Thought I heard a commotion" he murmured, looking down at Lera.

"Ragnarok" she seemed to be finishing the chant, speaking weakly. "Come day of wrath, O Pulse l'Cie, cast thy light upon souls of the departed. That fallen souls might bare our plea, to hasten the divine's return" she fell to the ground, flat, a heavy laboured breathing coming from her.

"O piteous wanderer" she croaked. "Ragnarok" she forced the words out of her lips before becoming completely still.

"What's that she keeps saying?" I looked at Hope, confused.

"Don't look at me" he turned, "Gadot, thanks by the way"

"No prob" the thick set man nodded, before taking a step back. "Maqui, Yuj, get down here!"

"Yeah, right, sure that's easy for-" Maqui grumbled, stopping as he caught sight of Lera. "What happened here?"

"That's what I want to know" Gadot looked back at me

"Nothing much" Hope responded, "She was with the Surtr, trying to-"

"The Surtr!" Gadot punched his palm with his fist, "Of course. I knew I'd heard it before"

"Heard what?" I murmured

"That chant" Yuj skipped down off the ladder, "O piteous wanderer, by any chance?" he tilted his head to look at Gadot. Gadot nodded.

"Where'd you hear that?" I looked at each NORA member

"Cover your ears, Hope?" Yuj looked at him hopefully

"No" Hope frowned

"Pity" he sighed, "We found it on a bit of paper in Lightning's jacket"

"Why're you going in Mom's jacket?"

"Don't tell her, `k?" Gadot stage whispered.

"It's all Snow's fault" Maqui piped up, "You know he's gone on holiday with Serah?"

"Yeah, took the transgate this morning. Wait, where's Serah been the last month?" Hope frowned.

"Last two months" Yuj sighed, flashing a slightly angry look back at Maqui. "Well, let's just say she's going to be away for a few more months. Like four, or five"

"I don't get it" Hope seemed confused.

I on the other hand let out a slight guffaw, oh Light's gonna be mad… five plus two, and a couple leeway…

"Well, we were packing for Snow, he didn't really want to run into Light, and we saw the paper in her jacket. Kept it" Maqui shrugged, tossing a roll of paper over to Hope. He pocketed it.

"Why not?" Hope looked around again, still confused.

NORA looked around awkwardly, none quite feeling like speaking.

Gadot sighed; "Hope, Serah's pregnant. And you know what Light'd think"

I'm telling you, it would've been easy to fit a fal'Cie, no scratch that, it would've been easy to fit the whole of Cocoon into Hope's mouth at that time, without touching a single tooth.

"Ragnarok, Come day of wrath, O Pulse l'Cie" I read aloud. We'd gotten the complete copy of the chant off Yuj yesterday, and we'd only just found time to read it today. It was really hard drifting off to sleep knowing that this was waiting for us; sheer curiosity.

"Embrace thy fate, thine home to burn" Hope supplied remembering.

"I'm meant to be reading this" I sighed

"Oh, sorry" Hope chuckled slightly, sitting back.

"Ragnarok, deliver the divine" I continued, "Ragnarok, come day of wrath O Pulse l'Cie. Cast thy light on the souls of the departed, that fallen souls might bare our plea to hasten the divine's return." I inhaled deeply, not totally sure what it all meant.

"O piteous wanderer, Ragnarok" I finished the verse before continuing again.

_Ragnarok._

_Come Day of Wrath, O Pulse l'Cie._

_Embrace thy fate, thine world to shatter._

_Ragnarok_

_Decend, merciless lord._

_Cast thy light upon the souls of the departed._

_That fallen souls might bare our plea..To hasten the Divine's return._

_O piteous Wanderer, Ragnarok_

"From the Surtr" I completed, "and that's it."

"Does it…mean anything?" Hope sighed.

"Guess not, well, apart from sucking up to Ragnarok. What's the 'divine'?"

"The Maker at a guess"

"Lera said they weren't concerned with the Maker" I replied quickly

"She could've been lying" Hope shrugged, "but maybe it means y-" he stopped mid sentence.

"Means…" I prompted. He stayed silent. "Were you going to say 'you'?" I frowned. The idea came out of nowhere, like it'd been added to my head. Or taken from his.

"Well…" Hope shrugged

"Thanks for the compliment, I guess" I laughed as Hope blushed.

There was a few moments' pause.

"So" Hope began, trying to speak again, "what do we know about the Surtr?"

"They're a bunch of power crazed loonies?" I suggested

"That too, but Lera said they were trying to bring down Cocoon. And they want you to do it, so…" he paused looking as if he was thinking about something.

"You're thinking about me" I stared, before breaking down into laughter; "alright, so I'm curious. What is it?"

"If y- the chant mentions Pulse l'Cie"

"Mom!" I gasped. "You're right! Lera said he was going to free them, didn't she?"

"And who do we know that can bring people out of stasis" Hope murmured.

"Pardon?" I looked at him, confused.

"Never mind" he smiled back up at me. "But at least we know where the Surtr are going to be"

"Of course!" I nodded slowly, "CrystalPoint."

CrystalPoint: the place at which the crystal supporting Cocoon touched Gran Pulse. People had built temples surrounding it, but none dared go close for fear of somehow shattering it, or angering some God or fal'Cie. The perfect place really: no one would dare go near and if they could sneak past the fences then no one would interrupt. No one would see, until Cocoon started to fall again.

"We have to stop him!" I got up quickly

"No, no, no" Hope rested his hands on my shoulders quickly, pausing possibly to think of some excuse. "The Surtr are looking for you, remember? You can't go after them or- or- maybe you're the method Gar- the Surtr are going to use to bring down Cocoon"

I tilted my head, frowning. Ok, it was pretty sweet Hope was trying to protect me but he was going about it in a kind of frenzy, as if he honestly believed the Surtr, Garmr, the word came to me suddenly, could use me to hurt Cocoon. Alright, so I had a bit of a temper.

"No way!" I slammed the door shut with one hand as Hope put on a jacket and bandanna, "I'm coming too"

"Please, Asura" Hope stared straight into my eyes, almost begging. "The Surtr were looking for you: I don't want them to get to you"

"It's not as if I'm the one who's going to bring Cocoon down" I was a little confused, maybe a bit flattered, by Hope's vehement opposition.

"Yeah…" Hope murmured, before brightening; "What about dad? If he comes back today then he'll be expecting to find someone"

I frowned slightly; I'm sure Governor Estheim was due to be released the day after tomorrow. Did Hope think I was stupid, or was he concerned?

"You know what" I sighed, "Sure, I doubt you're gonna give up" I shrugged, sitting down. If he wasn't going to let me go, then I'd let him go now; don't want to waste time. Besides, there was more to do.

"Seriously? Thanks" He nodded, lightly kissing my hand before running out the door.

I felt a small flutter as his lips pecked the back of my hand, but it quickly subsided. Still, I felt slightly guilty about letting him run off alone.

I inhaled deeply, looking around. Now what? I couldn't just wait for him, but what else could I do? Hope was adamant against me going and, yes the Surtr were after me and yes that was pretty frightening, but I could protect myself. Didn't he know that?

Well, there's one thing to do.

I peered out the window, just to double check Hope had gone and, after seeing him leave the street, I darted back to Governor Estheim's office. As there was when I'd searched there earlier, a small, grey phone was perched on top of the desk.

I took it, scrolling through the various options until I came to the right one.

"Hello?" a slightly high pitched, feminine voice spoke through

"Hello" I replied, "Is this Serah Villiers?"

"Yep, who's this?" Serah responded

"My name's Asura, I'm a friend of Hope's and your sister's"

"Did Claire want you to say something?" she sounded slightly fearful

"Nah, nothing like that, but could you do me a favour?"

"What?"

"If it's a girl, call her Vanille" the words rolled easily off of my tongue. It had to be said.

"W-what? Don't tell Claire, please" she replied, slightly scared

"Hee, no don't worry, but shouldn't you tell Lightning soon? I mean, it might be a bit of a nasty shock if…" I let the sentence hang

"True, but she doesn't get on with Snow. Why'd you think we went away? It was starting to show"

"I think she'd be happy: you know how she is with Hope. I think she'd make a good aunt"

"I guess" Serah sighed almost wistfully, "I'll see what Snow thinks: you know, nothing scares him until you mention my sister"

"Don't blame him" I chuckled, "Don't forget what I said though"

"If it's a girl, call her Vanille. Right", bye" I could almost hear Serah smile.

"Bye" I whispered, a wave of sadness washing over me. Serah was about to have a child, but Lightning might lose hers. Hope…

I don't care what he said, I was going. I could help, and I could protect myself. He wasn't a l'Cie any more, he couldn't take on the whole of the Surtr, especially not Garmr.

Garmr… How did I know that name? Of course, Lera said it.

Then why did I have a mental image of his appearance?

I shook it off, sighing. Time to see Hope at CrystalPoint.

Time to save the world.

**Of course, _you _know the real reason Hope doesn't want Asura there. If you don't, reread the last part, then read this part and say 'oh'.  
Yes, this bit was a lot shorter than before.  
Oh, and about Serah and Snow: it had to be done. **


	12. New Crystal

Hope's POV

I hope Asura isn't following; she could free Vanille and Fang from crystal sleep. That's why Garmr wanted her; to bring down Cocoon by removing the crystal. They just had to make her remember, and then find some way to persuade her.

So, what's the plan? Well, I had to find them. Easy enough, they'd be at CrystalPoint. Then I had to get near the crystal pillar, which would be much easier said than done. After that, well, we'll see. The Surtr couldn't do anything without Asura, so I'd won on that level at least. But would that really stop the likes of Garmr, or would he continue leading the Surtr with no aim in sight? I knew how that felt, I'd been a l'Cie. Going nowhere, but marching on just the same.

I neared CrystalPoint. It was a tourist destination really; everyone for cities around, even Gran Pulsians coming from the restored Oerba, visited. Even though night was falling, it was still packed. People spent mountains of gil just to see the spire from observatories that were kilometres away, and they spent even more to by fraud accessories featuring supposed crystal dust, and bracelets studded with glass claimed to be crystal.

I made my way through the crowded outpost, named CrystalPoint too, which made up the surroundings of the support. It wasn't going to be easy to get in, but if the Surtr could manage it then so could I, even if I wasn't a l'Cie.

First off though, I shielded my face, and bought crystal/glass studded sunglasses at an extortionate price: my face, like that of Light, Snow and Sazh, was unmistakable to most. Since we'd saved Cocoon four years ago, everyone knew us on sight. If I wanted to sneak up on the Surtr then that wasn't the best way. I slipped the sunglasses on, letting my eyes adjust to viewing the perpetually active outpost through the tinted lenses. How had Garmr managed to get in?

I paid one of the supervisors to have a minute in a CrystalPoint booth; they were small cubicles, bare, with a wooden bench at one end, glass at the other, and a pair of binoculars fitted into the floor, pointed straight at the crystal pillar.

I sat on the bench, looking through the binoculars. Nothing, well, I couldn't see anything there.

The binoculars gave a very good view of the crystal pillar; despite my immense distance, I could see it as if I was a few metres away. Well, I could see the whole width of the crystal, and I could move the binoculars up and down so I could see from the ground to the base of Cocoon. No sign of the Surtr.

Well, lucky I was more inventive than that. I put the zipper of my coat into one of the screws holding the binoculars up and twisted, moving the screw a little. I continued with the movement, double checking the clock. I had a maximum of fifteen minutes in the observatory booth, and five were already up.

The screw fell with a clang after a couple more minutes. I quickly started work on the next, using my improvised screwdriver. That's why I liked this coat; dad had it made especially once I'd started repairing the machines a few years ago. The zip fitted perfectly into screws, just in case I needed a screwdriver for whatever reason. Just one of those gimmicks, though he could probably guess that Id be doing something like this. I'd just been a l'Cie: the excitement was addictive.

The second of four screws fell, leaving me with three minutes. Not enough.

I made a start on the last screw, getting half way out before looking through the binoculars. They were loose enough that I could look from side to side a little. I couldn't quite see the Surtr anywhere, but just behind the pillar I could make out a vague glimmer of…purple? I focused in on that point; definitely, there was a fain sparkle of purple. Of course! A transgate! The Surtr had built a transgate leading them to CrystalPoint!

Now, just to figure out where the other end was. Mom had mentioned that: she had to track manufactured transgates in her time in the Guardian Corps. It was all a matter of…what did she say? Find the source of the magic, and to do that, oh, what was it… Well, a manadrive could be rigged to detect the transgate wavelength. But that needed a) a manadrive and b) some kind of device to pick up the output like a microphone or a screen.

Well, a microphone wouldn't be too hard; they were being sold outside, and it'd take a few seconds to hook one up into the manadrive I didn't have.

There was a knock on the door to the observatory. I smiled momentarily, before opening the door.

"Time's up" the CrystalPoint security guard informed me. I staggered out, slipped on the edge of the booth and catching hold of the guard's wrist.

"S-sorry" I stuttered, getting up and straightening my jacket.

"Never mind" she smiled, gesturing for me to go. I did so, hurrying a little more than was necessary, just because. As I made it back out to the hustle and bustle of the tourists, I snuck a sideways glance at the wristband I'd taken off the guard.

I felt guilty, but the fate of Pulse was more important than the small fine I might have to pay for stealing this.

It was a trick Light had taught me; most soldiers carried manadrives on their wrists, like a watch. With the right trick, it was easy to unclip the manadrive and pocket it without anyone noticing; which was just what I'd done, unclipping the band and putting it in my jacket. That was the first ingredient. A small, dark brown leather strap with a grey and orange illuminated hemisphere on top. Manadrive technology had improved since we came to Pulse.

I quickly bought a speaker from the gift shop. It was probably meant to be used with a music system, but I could probably plug it into the manadrive, at least, once I'd bought a connecting wire.

Once I picked up all the technology, I made my way to a quieter area, just outside the CrystalPoint outpost. I let the excitement, the sheer exhilaration, run through me before starting work; it was pretty easy actually, I just plugged the wire into the speaker and manadrive. Once the mechanism was complete, I held it up, moving the manadrive around to see what residual magic currents it could pick up.

I was scared, I won't pretend I wasn't, but there was just something about being able to take action again that excited me. At the time I hated being a l'Cie but now, after all that, I missed it, I missed the knowledge and anticipation of actually making a difference.

Beep.

I stopped, frowning, before I moved the manadrive back to where it just was. It beeped again, picking up some kind of energy. I walked forwards, stopping as it fell silent. Cautiously, I pointed the contraption in a different direction and, after moving it slightly to the right, it beeped again. I followed the noise, being sure to only move away from CrystalPoint. A few more minutes passed, and uncontrollable excitement coursed through me, as the beeping grew louder until I left the outpost and turned to stop just outside a hastily put up tent. I unplugged the speaker, so as not to draw attention, and clipped the manadrive around my wrist. Mom had taught me how to use them, Light, that is.

The tent was a dark red and blue, and it bore a many armed black figure, faded on one side. Ragnarok. This was definitely a Surtr tent; they must've set up the transgate here. It wasn't easy to set up a transgate though; not when security was constantly watching one end. I guess they must have put the other end up as soon as Vanille and Fang turned to crystal, before the city was built.

I closed my eyes, focusing on the manadrive. Hopefully it wouldn't be too hard to summon up a bit of magic in case someone was in there.

I jumped into the tent flap, pushing the cloth aside and , the instant I saw the woman within, I released a pulse of magic, based around the paralysis spells I'd learnt as a l'Cie. The Surtr woman fell back, not dead, just stunned. Wincing, I threw the manadrive off my wrist; it wasn't one of the PSICOM ones I'd practiced with, it was meant to keep public control so the powerful spell I'd used it for had overloaded it. Sighing, I left the smoking manadrive just outside the transgate.

I guess I would be fighting the Surtr unarmed. It could be easier.

Armed with nothing but a pair of sunglasses and a dodgy speaker, I stepped into the transgate that would lead me to the Surtr.

Asura's POV

CrystalPoint huh? Were the Surtr terrorists or vacationers?

I hadn't thought this through. How was I supposed to find Hope or any of the Surtr in this crowd? For that matter, how was I supposed to know if someone worked for the Surtr and was coming after me, when I didn't know what most of them looked like?

"Ragnarok" someone whispered behind me.

Ok, that was one way to recognize them.

"Come day of wrath, O Pulse fal'Cie" the voice murmured again.

I span around, partly to ask why he'd gotten the lyrics wrong, before I felt a stabbing pain in my arm, a slight sense of déjà vu, before drowsiness washed over me and I fell to the floor.

Hope's POV

I stumbled out of the transgate, falling to the floor quickly so as to not be seen by the tourists. How was Garmr going to do anything with the hundreds of tourists watching CrystalPoint?

I looked up from the ground. I was in a small indentation in the ground; evidently Garmr had pushed something heavy through the transgate, not that I was complaining. I could stay hidden here.

_KkkkRRrrRAAaaaAAAaaaarrRrRRRrrrrKkkkKKKKkkkK!_

I looked up, trying to see the source of the strangled, animalistic cry. It sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite recognize it.

I rolled along the spoiled ground, leaving the indentation, trying to crawl towards the shouting creature, unheard by the distant crowd. I heard the transgate buzz as something new came through, thankfully I'd moved far enough from the gate too be out of sight. I pulled myself further away, to a deep pit, only just visible from here, covered by some net. Something was in there; something Garmr had hidden here, unseen by the tourists.

_KKKKkkRrrrrrRRRRRrraaAAAaaaAAAArrkKKKKkKK!_

The creature let out another, agonizing cry. Still pressed against the ground, I moved up to the pit, hearing the transgate buzz as more of the Surtr came through. I didn't look back to see how they were hiding: I was a fair way around the thick crystal pillar by now so it wouldn't be easy for them to see me.

_KKKKKKKKKKKkkkkkkKKKKrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaRRRRRRRrrrrKKKKKKKKKKkkkKKK!_

"Oh, be quiet. No one can here you" Garmr sneered, walking from the other side of the pit. I rolled up close to the crystal pillar, staying out of sight.

Garmr was standing, speaking to whatever was in the pit. Wait; standing?

I snuck a look at the observatories watching us, only to suppress a gasp. Helicopters and military vehicles from almost all the colonies were grouped around, just outside the ring of observatories. But none were coming near; were they scared of damaging the pillar?

I saw a grey cylinder be dropped from some high up aircraft, spitting out a noxious green gas. I inhaled deeply, only to release the breath as the gas canister turned to ash, striking some energy shield.

"Good work" Garmr noted, speaking down to the screeching creature in the pit. I moved my gaze back to him as he started to pace away from me, around the pillar again. Good. I moved closer to the pit, lightly peeing down through a gap in the secured, firm, thick net. I let out a horrified gasp.

An Atomos!

The huge, spherical fal'Cie was trapped in the pit, rolling, screeching as it crashed into the metal walls of the cramped cell. Garmr had trapped the fal'Cie, making the walls a thick, solid metal, presumably building the prison along with the transgate: long before the security was as tight as it was now. I suppose he could've lured the fal'Cie through a portable transgate. And now he kept the Atomos prisoner, with huge, thick, painful leads keeping it restrained, some digging into its skin and drawing a bright light out; some kind of energy. It looked like the shield.

Then it struck me: Garmr was using the fal'Cie's energy to create the protection! If I could free the Atomos from that torturous invention, then the military could get in!

Which was pretty good considering I had no chance against the Surtr.

_KKKKKKKkkKKKKKKKKKkkkkkKKKKKrRRRRRRRrrrRRRAAAAaaaAAAAAAAaaAARRRRRRRRRKKKkkkKKKKkkkkKKKKKKKKKK!_

The fal'Cie screeched again, as more energy was drawn out.

Then I heard a familiar voice.

"Hey, you, let me go!"

I sat up, kneeling, to look around the crystal. Asura was being held back by a pair of Surtr, but she was still resisting, kicking out.

What was she doing here?"

I felt a pang of guilt, and then of confusion; I'd convinced myself that I was keeping her behind to protect her from the Surtr, which I was in a way. I thought it was because she was the only one who could remove the crystal, but in that moment it felt as if the sole reason was that I couldn't bear to lose her. That was the only thought in my head.

"Too long" Garmr shouted, standing on a chunk of crystal in front of the Surtr, "Too long have we been beneath the Cocoon pets! But no more!" his arms were wide, and the Surtr cheered. There were thirty or so of them.

"That is why I went to the Ark" Garmr shouted; "To join the armoury, to strike back at Cocoon! But no, when I awoke from the Ark's stasis, Methu Pulse and Gran Pulse had died. I was forced to adopt a new language, and live in hiding for months, before the Ark was even opened. But I did meet one other, one that I thought would be dead, a Shor'ack we have with us now!" he punched the air.

The Surtr cheered. Asura looked around, confused, suddenly catching my eyes as I looked around the crystal pillar. I nodded to her, smiling. She smiled back.

"Ragnarok!" Garmr shouted, "Come day of wrath, O Pulse l'Cie" he turned to the crystal pillar. "Embrace thy fate, thine home to burn" he recounted the words, speaking to Vanille and Fang within the crystal. "Ragnarok, deliver the divine" he turned back to the Surtr: "Ragnarok! Come day of wrath, O Pulse l'Cie" he punched the air above him, "Cast thy light upon the souls of the departed that fallen souls might bare our plea, to hasten the divine's return" his eyes flickered to Asura.

"O piteous wanderer, Ragnarok" he smiled slightly, "Ragnarok! Come day of wrath, O Pulse l'Cie" he stepped of the crystal podium, towards Asura. I could hear the military doing all they could to break the Atomos powered shield, but I knew they wouldn't be able to.

"Embrace thy fate" Garmr let his hand touch Asura's cheek, moving slowly down before leaving her at her chin, "thine world to shatter."

Asura recoiled from his touch, struggling to escape the two guards. She hadn't remembered yet but now, bizarrely, I wanted her to remember: it was the only way we could escape.

"Ragnarok!" Garmr cried, pointing to Cocoon, "Descend, merciless lord, cast thy light upon the souls of the departed, that fallen souls might bare our plea" he lowered his hand, again turning to Asura. "To hasten the divine's return."

"O piteous wanderer" he spat, glaring at Asura, trying to get her to remember with no clue how. It was almost comic, if he wasn't such a good speaker. It was slightly admirable; he had the whole Surtr captivated with the ancient words.

"Ragnarok" he drew back, hand clenched to a fist.

As he finished speaking the words, the transgate flickered, switched off, the Surtr assembly was complete, and almost fifty were here, and a pair of arms caught me from behind. The Surtr behind me pushed me forwards, towards the larger group and Garmr.

"How nice" Garmr looked at me, concealing his surprise, "an audience." He walked up to me, snatching my sunglasses away. "Hope Estheim isn't it? You're lucky that a Cocoon pet like you isn't dead right now" he tried to control his anger.

"You're lucky Vanille and Fang were able to save your life" I retorted

"Those two are traitors. They were blessed with the chance to become Ragnarok, and they betrayed His glory" Garmr struck my face, making me gasp in pain and throw my neck to the side.

"No!" Asura cried out.

Garmr paused, hand still ready to slap again. A slow, sinister smile spread across his face. "You know her" he murmured.

An eerie silence washed through the Surtr.

I felt the Surtr behind me release me. I frowned at Garmr.

"Wake her up" he stepped to the side, gesturing for me to go past; "wake her up" he said again, pointing to Asura. "And don't try anything; we're immune to your magicks" he flashed a curl of crystal from within his pocket.

I remembered what he'd said in Asura's memories; the crystal sapped the energy of the fal'Cie, so she couldn't turn them into l'Cie or hurt them with magic at all. As a fal'Cie, all of her magic would be prevented by the crystals.

"We will bring Cocoon down" Garmr was speaking as he poked me towards Asura. "We will bring the next of vipers down, while we'll be protected beneath the shield. The Cocoon pets will die, but we, oh, we will live. And from then on, only true, Gran, Methu, Bhakru or Nam Pulsians will survive. Bring down Cocoon for us, Shor'ack" he pushed me to Asura.

I stood still for a moment, unsure. Then again, I knew what woke her up last time-and that way was infinitely better than creating anger, sadness or pain within her like Garmr would. There's one strong emotion I can supply.

Love.

"Don't hold it against me" I whispered, smiling slightly as I bent my head towards hers. Her eyes widened, somehow knowing what I was going to do. Our lips met and for a brief, horrible moment, she felt as if she would pull away. Then she stiffened, and I could feel her remembering but, unlike before, she did not move away. She pulled me closer, hand running through my hair, and I felt her tongue brush my upper lip, passionate.

For that second, only Asura and I existed in the world. I didn't care if she was Anima; on the inside and outside she was the wonder I knew as Asura. He smiling face filled my thoughts, her skin, her eyes, her lips…

Just then I was pulled sharply back to reality as the Surtr yanked us apart. Asura was pulled away, Garmr staying with her, and a few more Surtr restrained me. But I caught one last glimpse of Asura/Anima smiling at me. She winked.

"Try anything and he dies" Garmr snarled, forcing her up against the crystal.

I ran my tongue across the back of my upper lip, where she'd touched me. Oh Asura…

The rest of Pulse might be trapped outside, the transgate might be sealed, any fal'Cie magic might not work on the Surtr, and we might be alone in here, with Cocoon about to fall, but you were still phenomenal…

Garmr thought we had no hope.

We did. And it wasn't just in my name.

**Please play dramatic music. I've got the last chapter-the next chapter-planned out, but it might take a little while to write. I'm in the middle of a _lot _right now****.  
Enjoy!**


	13. New Ragnarok

**Here's the final part! Hope you enjoy, and the ending's suitable. Thanks to all of you who've stuck through the whole 63 (yes, 63!) pages.  
Hopefully this'll wrap up all the previously mentioned plot points. **

Hope's POV

I ran my tongue across the back of my lip again, feeling the slightly warmer surface.

"Garmr, you said fal'Cie magic wouldn't work?" I was smiling now. Just like the old days.

"Of course. Just give up" he replied, pressing Asura against the crystal.

"What about l'Cie?" I grinned, feeling the brand Asura had put on my lip.

When we'd kissed, she'd focused and put a l'Cie brand on the inside of my lip; out of their sight, but I felt her put it there.

Garmr shot a surprised, angry look at me as I felt the familiar, fiery currents pour from my hands, making the Surtr holding me stagger back. Next, I brought up sheets of ice, imprisoning most of the fifty strong Surtr rabble, leaving the one holding Asura who held Asura up as a human shield. Growling a little, I threw a bolt of lightning at Garmr-

-who held up a grey, metal device fitted over his knuckles, which absorbed the spell.

"I'll give your Sanctum this" Garmr, nodded, "They know the fal'Cie. Like this device, built in conjunction with the manadrives. Absorbs all magic thrown at it" he smiled, punching the air towards me. The electrical current I'd sent to him bounced back, and I skipped to the side, feeling the heat of the wave.

"And shoots it back" Garmr finished, giving a grim smile, leaving one of the Surtr to hold Asura.

Garmr paced towards me, moving slowly. He had the metal band fitted smoothly over his knuckles, and kept it pointed towards me, preventing me from getting any spell to work.

Air. I kept moving like normal, but subtly focused on the element air, dragging a stone along the ground, blowing it with a created wind. I could hear the Cocoon and Pulse armies cheering outside. Then, inhaling deeply, I moved my right arm, back, yanking the stone at lightning speed across the ground, to strike Garmr.

He span around, holding up the hand with the device and catching the stone, absorbing the momentum. Twirling again, he thrust it towards me, into my hastily upraised shield.

"You're inventive, l'Cie, I'll give you that" Garmr stepped towards me, and I stepped back, curving, circling around the same few steps.

"I've had plenty of practice"

"So I've heard. But whatever you do to me, I'll do back to you. One of the few good things your Sanctum ever achieved. Well, that and the Purge: imagine, so many pets screaming and dying all because of her" Garmr used his other hand to point at the struggling Asura.

"Shut up!" I shouted, calling in waves of fire in a circle around Garmr, bringing them towards him, and extinguishing them before they came too close to Garmr: he'd just send them back at me.

"You're learning" he nodded, smiling slightly.

"You're not" I retorted, cracking the ground beneath his feet.

"Is that it?" he asked, lowering his hand, pointing his palm to the floor and stabilizing the quake.

He raised his hand to force the same energy back at me and, as he did so, I brought a gust of wind moving from behind him. My spell knocked him sprawling forwards, but his reflection of the quake knocked me back.

"Nice" Garmr nodded appreciatively, dusting himself down as he got to his feet. "Any more tricks?"

"Wait" I murmured, thinking. I could only knock him over with that trick: any other spells and he'd be able to absorb the energy from them, like if I used fire, he might be set alight for a moment but the Sanctum device could take the flames in.

"Waiting" Garmr shrugged, calm.

"Try this!" I shouted suddenly, bringing in a lightning bolt from the cloudless sky. Garmr absorbed it, and held his device up to take in the ring of fire I'd called in, at the same time neutralizing the quake I'd built beneath him. Panting slightly, I finished off, bringing two stones towards him from different directions. He held his hand over his heart, and the stones dropped to the floor either side of him. The energy propelling them had been lost.

"You know what this means" Garmr smirked. "It's payback time!"

I braced myself, creating an energy shield as quickly as I could, as waves of fire and lightning cascaded towards me. I staggered back, the force of my reflected blows surprising me with their strength.

"You don't stand a chance" Garmr murmured as the smoke cleared. He was completely still now, and hadn't even broken a sweat.

I wasn't going to run after him for a punch-up; I could never fight very well like that, even after Mom's best efforts, and he came from Pulse. I knew he could doubtless fight off a behemoth, so what chance did I have? If he came towards me for a physical fight I'd just run away, throwing as much magic at him as I could.

I needed an edge. Sighing, I closed my eyes, recalling that old trick. A faint red aura emanated from my branded lip, dissipating into the air. I lifted my arm exceedingly quickly, checking that the spell had worked. It had; I never learnt its name, but that bit of magic let me move at a much quicker speed.

I lifted my hands, bringing them together in a clap. Two waves of water, rolling slowly from my speeded up perception, came out of the air, crashing towards Garmr. He lifted his hand, but I was quicker: I cancelled the attack, turning the water to steam, and threw a stone up from the ground, striking his knee. The combo took less than a second.

Garmr fell to his knees, chuckling slightly.

"Nice" he smiled, getting up again. He rubbed at a bruise on the back of his knee.

We stared each other down for a few moments, before he took one step towards me, device raised.

I stood stock still, waiting for the right chance for another combo. Garmr took another step towards me, leaving him four paces away. The slow, measured pace took him one second from my speeded up perspective. He slowly moved one foot forwards, keeping it hovering in midair.

In a flash, half a second even from my view, he pushed towards me touching me with the Sanctum device. I felt the speed leave me, and I fell back, slightly disorientated. Thinking fast, I moved back a further few steps from Garmr.

"Had enough?" he smirked, twiddling his fingers. A red aura spread out from them, the remnants of my spell becoming infused with the device. Now the device would be quicker, as best I could tell. It would be harder to hit Garmr with anything.

"I take it there's more to come?" Garmr tilted his head, glaring it me. I stared back, panting.

Maybe this wasn't going to be too easy.

Asura's POV

"Let me go!" I said, writhing in my captor's grasp. She was holding me very close, half afraid that Hope would throw a spell or something at her.

Oh come on! Hope was a l'Cie and dealing just fine with the head of the Surtr. I'm a flipping fal'Cie and I'm struggling with some underling.

_You're not a fal'Cie any more_ the silent voice in my head murmured, _you're as human as Hope. More so: your magic won't work._

And why wouldn't my magic work? I tried it, just to be sure. Nope, definitely wouldn't work; she had part of the crystal.

For half a moment I was tempted to actually free Vanille just to get rid of the annoying, limiting crystal shards. Naturally, I didn't though: it would be more annoying to have Cocoon fall towards us, frankly.

"You can stop this, Anima" my captor whispered savagely in my ear, "just free the Chosen from crystal sleep"

"My name is Asura!" I kicked back. Even with the fal'Cie's memories, I still had the sense of self that belonged only to Asura, belonged only to me.

"If you're so obsessed with Ragnarok, then let me go and you can become it" I groaned, "You know, drop the crystal and let me brand you"

"I don't think so, somehow" she smirked.

My captor had one arm curled around both of mine, and the other arm firmly holding my hips back. Her chin was resting on my shoulder, letting her whisper her threats as Garmr and Hope duelled. The rest of the Surtr were in the ice shell Hope had conjured, but they were chipping their way out.

I reached back with one arm, bending my elbow uncomfortably, trying to reach for the crystal shard my captor held. I didn't know where she kept it, but if I could find it and get rid of it, I could crystallize her. I wouldn't turn her into a Cie'th: I was human, a temporary death, a sleep, was all I'd do.

I was human…why could I think those words but when someone else said them I went mad? Really, isn't that self-defeating?

"What do you think you can achieve? Your friend is failing" my captor whispered slyly.

I hated to admit it, but she was right. Hope was panting, weakening, while Garmr was just moving one arm.

I could help. I had to. I bent my elbow awkwardly, gripping the base of my captor's wrap, pulling on a jewelled clip. The crystal shard had to be somewhere; I just had to disguise my searching as general resistance.

"He's a l'Cie branded by a Gran Pulse fal'Cie" I retorted, palming a brooch from her jacket. I threw it in front of me, just to see what it was. No crystal. "Your boss is using a Sanctum trick; some Pulse pride"

"We do what we ha- hey, stop that!" she grabbed my hand, just as my thumb and forefinger grabbed a jewelled clasp. I pinched the clasp and dropped it, focusing as my captor forced my hand back in front of me.

Still couldn't brand her. That wasn't the crystal.

"Those would be mine" she whispered.

I had a brainwave suddenly. I needed to find where the crystal was to start with; and it would take in any magic I tried.

Closing my eyes, I visualized fire, a pale white sphere in the air in front of me. Opening my eyes, I saw the blaze start up, almost instantly turning into a strand of spaghetti, twirling over my left shoulder. It was moving in a pretty much straight line, skimming over the tip of my shoulder, though there was no heat. The crystal had taken the danger out from the spell. Clever.

Well, I suppose the crystals were made to protect.

So, the crystal was on a badge or something just above my left shoulder. How was I supposed to reach there? My arms were pinned to my sides.

"Watch him fall" my captor had her head snugly placed on my right shoulder, whispering. "Watch your friend fall and die"

"Yeah, that's not going to make me Ragnarok, I'm no l'Cie" I twisted my neck, to the right, hitting my captor's face with my cheek. She withdrew, cackling slightly.

Taking advantage of the moment, I turned my neck as fast as I could, as far as I could go. My chin was right on top of my shoulder, slightly further than a normal human could manage. Si guess a fal'Cie created body was slightly more flexible; yet another reminder of how inhuman I was, no matter how hard I tried.

I exhaled the doubts and fears, opening and shutting my teeth over the crystal bade. It was a circular gold frame, with the jagged shard of crystal framed in the centre. And the emblem was clenched in my jaw firmly. I turned my neck back, suppressing a scream as the cold, sharp metal dug into my gums, but as I tore the fabric of my captor's wrap, I finished turning my head.

I spat out the badge, seeing slight stains of blood on the crystal. Licking around my mouth tentatively, I tasted the metallic tang of blood. That much was human at least.

"You-" I never got to hear the end of my captor's insult. Her hands were holding my wrists; enough physical contact to brand her. And her Focus was just to live a microsecond more.

As her body weakened, I fell forwards from her limp, unresisting muscles: didn't want to be held by a crystal statue.

Now she was crystal. I turned, seeing her frozen face. I guess I'd free her soon; otherwise I'd as good as killed her. And Anima was the killer, not me.

Blinking and sighing a little, I looked up, before gasping. The Surtr were almost finished breaking through the ice shell Hope had erected.

Hope's POV

I got off my knees, panting. Did I know any more tricks? Garmr could take whatever I did and reflect it back: the combos I'd done before never worked more than twice before he came up with a countermeasure.

And though Asura was free, she was using her fal'Cie magic to strengthen the ice around the Surtr. Which meant she couldn't help. I was alone.

Alone…

No I wasn't. The last time I'd felt so alone, I'd asked to be alone. Back when I was a l'Cie, I'd told Light and the others to go, to leave me alone. And my anger, despair, had made sure I couldn't be alone, not as a l'Cie anyway.

My despair had summoned my Eidolon, Alexander.

I wonder, did the ability to summon him carry over from one branding to the next?

We'll see.

I concentrated, opening my mouth and getting slightly annoyed with Asura: it was really annoying to have a brand on the inside of my lip.

The star shaped crystal formed just outside my brand, dropping onto my tongue. I let it drop, moist, onto my palm.

Garmr shot a slightly scared look at me, though he tried to hide it.

"Don't forget, I've had practice" I flashed a cocky grin at him, before bring my other hand down to crush the crystal.

Familiar glyphs surrounded me, and I felt the drain of energy that was always accompanied by…

Him! I looked up as the bulky Eidolon stepped forward, moving towards Garmr.

There was a moment's pause as Alexander looked down on Garmr, the Surtr man shaking slightly in what might've been the first trace of fear he'd experienced. My Eidolon started to shine slightly, lifting up a thick, golden arm. He flexed brutish, white fingers, a ripple of energy passing through them. Then it punched forwards, unstoppable fist thrust towards Garmr.

Garmr lifted his hand, the arm seeming like a twig against a tree trunk.

A pale light spread from the Eidolon's fist, expanding, engulfing Garmr and the Eidolon. I took a few steps back, panting, watching the almost opaque light. I could just make out silhouettes, but no details.

A scream of rage, of effort, sounded from within the light, a human battle cry. I saw the titanic bulk of Alexander move close to Garmr and…was it fading?

The light started to weaken, and the two figures gradually became visible. Garmr had his hand outstretched, the Sanctum device shining, emitting sparks, as the magical energy making up Alexander started to dissipate.

"Eidolons are magical creatures!" Garmr seemed almost hysterical, emotions turning to a mad joy, flipping from his previous, concealed fear. "They're composed from magic. Magic I can use!" he slowly moved his palm back, as Alexander turned into a stream of pale energy, swirling through the air and into Garmr's palm.

As quickly as it had started, it was over.

I stood, facing a smirking Garmr on a plain field, at CrystalPoint, mere steps away from the pillar holding Fang and Vanille. His hand was glimmering, jolts of energy shooting out. The device hadn't overloaded, and yet it was holding a whole Eidolon.

I knew I hated the Sanctum for a reason.

"You know what happens now" Garmr smirked again, sinister grin broadening.

"Not yet" I threw a ball of fire, but my heart wasn't in it. I needed to conserve energy: he was going to attack me with my own Eidolon's energy.

A lash of energy struck my spell, created by Garmr's stored up energy of Alexander. The two bits of magic dissipated.

"Bad move" Garmr glared at me.

I hastily focused, constructing a resilient, invisible wall in front of me. One done; that should block the stronger bits of energy, though some might get through. I made another of the walls, just to be sure. I kept the constructs invisible, so Garmr wouldn't trigger his attack too soon.

"You're about to summon my Eidolon for me again" I bluffed, "He'll help me" by now I was making all the impenetrable shields I could. How powerful would this blast be?

"I don't think so. I'm shooting out pure energy, all the magic that composes your Eidolon. But no form. Its cells are based on magical energy, just as ours are based on chemical energy. That magic I can absorb, without the constraints of a physical form" he twiddled his fingers for a moment, before closing his eyes.

As he opened them again, he was glaring straight at me, about to unleash Alexander's energy.

"Say goodbye" he whispered.

And sheer chaos broke out from within his palm.

A blinding white light shot through the air, curving around me. I felt a physical pain as most of my barriers were shattered, and I lifted my palms, sheltering my face like I would in a sandstorm, building more shields, one after the other.

The energy kept coming. It seemed the entire world was made up solely of the white magic, magic I was barely holding back. My shields shattered the instant they were created, and could barely keep up a constant barrier in front of me. And I could still hear Garmr laughing outside.

"No!" I shouted, running my tongue over my brand, feeling it burn.

My last shield shattered.

The energy burned; like searing fire. I was flung back but, just as I felt I couldn't take any more, mere seconds, the wave ended.

I fell a few metres to the grounded, burned and bruised, panting. Garmr stood a few metres away, standing proud, looking down.

"Any last words?" he tilted his head. He still had a tiny bit of energy stored in his weapon: I could see the sparks, my Eidolon trying to be free.

I creased my forehead, throwing faint wisps of smoke at Garmr. It was supposed to be a spell.

"You can't harm me" she swaggered, moving a few steps closer.

I panted, falling to the ground, my body pressed to the warm, sun-baked surface.

There was a loud crack, and I saw, just out of the corner of my eyes, the Surtr breaking out from the icy shell, the whole swarm of them free. They moved towards the fleeing Asura.

And the worst part was, we could do nothing. I was too tired to do anything except conjure a tiny bit of lightning, or fire maybe. Not enough to hurt any of the Surtr, and Garmr would just swat it aside.

Hopeless. I felt truly hopeless.

Garmr was right I couldn't hurt him.

Wait.

I. Couldn't. Hurt. _Him_.

I couldn't hurt _him_.

So why hurt him? Why aim for him?

I closed my eyes, relaxing, using what energy I could. I couldn't see my target, but I could make a guess. I created a thin spark of lightning, a tiny jolt of energy, but enough to cause a fire and enough to cause an overload.

_KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKkKKKKKkkkkKKKKRRRrrRRRRRRrrrRRRrrrKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKkkkkKKKKKKKKKKKKKkkKKKK!_

The Atomos. Kept prisoner by Garmr, being forced to create the shield that kept the army out. A machine kept it prisoner.

A machine with my lightning magic within it, turning it into a smouldering mess as the Atomos, the very angry Atomos, broke free, leaving its pit in the ground, moving furiously.

The shield around us fell.

Asura's POV

Hope. Was. Brilliant.

No other way to say it' he'd freed the Atomos and let the rest of Cocoon and Gran Pulse in. Let's see the Surtr deal with all of those!

The Atomos shot out of the ground with an uncanny resemblance to a hyperactive moogle, darting from side to side, leaping off the ground, unused to being in the open air. I saw it freeze in midair momentarily, eye rolling around until it saw what it was looking for.

Garmr. It recognized Garmr.

The fal'Cie rolled towards Garmr, who turned around, away from Hope, to throw a beam of light.

I looked away once I saw Hope start to flee. Sighing, I turned to the remains of Hope's ice shell, with the Surtr leaving and pouring across CrystalPoint. But now we had hope, in both senses of the word. Cocoon would not fall today.

All of the New Guardian Corps, made up of Gran Pulse and Cocoon soldiers alike, had been called here, once they'd heard of people in CrystalPoint. It was the most sensitive area of New Cocoon; everyone knew that, if it wasn't for the sacrifice of Fang and Vanille, then none of them would be here. They would defend CrystalPoint with their lives.

Some of the soldiers were on foot, some stood astride huge vehicles, some were on bikes, some kept their distance and fired weapons, some were equipped with manadrives, some were keeping their distance from the Atomos as it fought Garmr, and some were prancing around like monkeys. It was an odd feeling, relying on others; it was such a, well, human trait. As a fal'Cie I'd always had to be perpetually alone, not counting my l'Cie. I still felt immeasurable guilt for those l'Cie: I'd made them my slaves, and they were the only kind of companionship I had. Everyone else had kept away from me, and even those l'Cie had shunned me.

I felt pity for the Atomos in front of me, visible from my vantage point near the crystal pillar. Did it feel as alone as I had before? I never even realized how alone I was, not until I knew friendship, and love.

Was that why we made l'Cie? Not to complete some task, but out of loneliness?

A tear splashed onto the crystal, a pitifully inadequate gesture for all those lives I'd ruined.

"We forgive you" Vanille's voice sounded in my head, emanating from the pillar.

"Thanks…Mom" I murmured, smiling through the tears, "But you're not the only ones"

"Hey, no one's perfect" I heard Fang start to speak, "I was Ragnarok. I still can't forgive myself for that, but I have to live on. You made yourself from me, so find a way to do what I've done: forgive yourself"

"You can't change the past" Vanille added, "but you _can _change the future."

"Thank you" I murmured, bare audible even to myself, as I sunk to my knees.

Was I grateful or scared? My mind was such a blur of conflicting emotions that I really couldn't see how humans could bare it. Happy, sad, guilty, relieved, angry, peaceful…

"Should've known you'd be at the heart of this" a slightly groaning voice stated, stopping next to me.

"Lightning!" I looked up, smiling at the familiar face. "You know, Hope's here too"

"I guessed. Just like before, he could never stay away from anything. If he hears of danger, he's there, everything he does is towards that aim. He never stops"

"It sounds scary when you put it like that" I sighed, watching the battlefield. The Surtr were retreating, the Atomos had left after deciding Garmr was too much hassle, and Garmr had tossed the smoking Sanctum device aside. Hope was running after him.

"It is scary" Light responded. "You never saw him last time; he was willing to kill himself to get back at Snow. Don't you tell him this, but I was scared, scared of losing him when the only thing on his mind was revenge"

"I know how you feel"

"I don't think so. You probably feel very differently: I saw him kiss you"

"You…don't mind?" I frowned slightly, remembering the possessiveness of her sister NORA had mentioned. I guess she was softening; she treated Hope like her son.

"Hope needs someone; last time it was me, but he's older now. He needs you"

"Thanks" I nodded, slowly, watching as Hope neared Garmr of a relatively distant point of land.

"You know" I turned back to Lightning, "If that's how you feel, you should talk to Serah" I flashed a smile, before getting up.

It was a human emotion again, one Light had reminded me of, and now I couldn't get it out of my head.

Hope was near Garmr. I ran up, feeling the land around me seemingly blur. Some fal'Cie magic activated unconsciously. I sprinted up to them, heart pounding.

Garmr had hunted me, he had killed my parents. That thought went through my head again. He had killed my parents, just to try and make me remember. He had almost killed Hope's father, in fact, he had killed Hope's father: I barely managed to save him.

I hated Garmr.

The three words stuck in my thoughts. I hated him. Not just dislike, but a strong emotion of sheer hatred.

I was human now, in a good way and the bad ways. I felt love, joy, contentment, but I also felt the negative emotions…like hate.

And that emotion could be triggered by just thinking of Garmr.

I could see and hear Hope clearly, even though I was at a distance. Garmr was on his knees, one arm held out, restrained by Hope, while the other arm was pinned to his side. Hope was speaking, just a few last words before, presumably, Hope knocked him out to go to some Cocoon prison.

No.

My vision was tinged red, as I remembered the story Light had mentioned; Hope had wanted revenge. And that was one human feeling pumping through my veins. Garmr had killed my parents.

"You gave us unity" Hope was saying, "a common enemy. You brought us together, Pulse and Cocoon."

I stopped next to Garmr. Hope looked up at me, slightly surprised, before recoiling at the rage in my eyes.

Was that really how I looked? Like a monster? It wouldn't surprise me, but I wasn't: I was as human as him. Just, that made me a monster when faced with the man who'd killed my parents. Adoptive parents, but the only parents I'd known.

Garmr.

I took one step towards him.

Touched his cheek with one finger.

And branded him.

With no Focus.

I stepped back as he started to shake, skin decaying, changing, glowing. Anyone branded with no Focus only had one fate. To become a Cie'th.

"You-" Garmr pointed a rippling hand at me as his flesh practically bubbled, darkening, decaying, turning to the crystal grey of a Cie'th. I stared at him, as the word was spoken slowly. He never finished the sentence.

His skin was a dark grey, with jagged pieces of crystal littered over it. He lunged at the empty air, a mindless action. Garmr was a Cie'th, by my hand.

So why didn't I feel any better? He was the man who'd killed my parents, who'd tried to destroy New Cocoon and Gran Pulse, and now he was a Cie'th, in eternal regret, with no chance of respite: no one else could do his Focus for him, because he had none. But I didn't feel any happier.

I only felt, well, sadness. Regret even.

I felt guilty enough making someone a crystal-a temporary fate. But no fal'Cie could cure a Cie'th: that was the point of the punishment. Inescapable. Did Garmr deserve it? Seconds ago I could have given an answer without a second thought, but now…now the rage had quieted, and I could think clearly.

I did know the answer to that question: did Garmr deserve to be mired in eternal torment? I knew the answer, I just didn't want to say it.

I felt guilty. Very guilty, regretful. If I could've, I would've changed his fate. But no one could: not even the Maker.

I'd done things I regretted before: I was human then, but I'd been able to undo all of those things. Just human damage, which I'd been able to undo. But now I was a fal'Cie with human emotions. Like anger. And with that much anger, I'd thought of the worst fate I could.

And it was too much.

How did Hope see me now? A monster? The Anima creature he'd fought?

No, wait. He never fought Anima, fought me, back then. He'd kept his distance.

Did that mean anything? Had he been unwilling to fight? But why?

"A-Asura?" Hope asked. I opened my eyes, to see that I was kneeling on the floor, sobbing.

"Don't talk to me" I curled up tighter, feeling Garmr's Cie'th lumber towards me. It struck a hard, firm blow on my back. I gasped, but didn't stop it. I deserved it.

Strange to think that the one person who'd made me feel guilty was the one who killed my parents.

"How do you bear it?" I sobbed into the ground. "Look at what I've done"

"Don't, Asura" I felt a whoosh above me, as he used the l'Cie magic I gave him to throw Garmr away.

"I…I hate him, Hope. I hate him…but I just don't, don't…why did I do it? No one deserves that, and yet I did it without a second thought." Hope touched me tenderly. "No!" I shouted out, moving away, "I'm a fal'Cie, look at what I did to him"

"I know. And that just proves you're human" he spoke softly

"What?" I peered up at him, eyes drying

"If you were a fal'Cie you wouldn't be like this now. If you were a fal'Cie you'd have done it to the rest of the Surtr, not just him, and you wouldn't be crying right now" he knelt down beside me and lifted my chin with two of his fingers. A brief, endless second passed.

"A human is more than just happiness. The fact you feel sad is all the more reason for you to be Asura, and not Anima" Hope whispered, leaning forwards.

Our lips met in an explosion of delight, the instant feeling of joy at the thrill of contact, with all the wonderful, subtle twirling patterns of emotions within.

My heart, my human heart, melted at his touch.

"Hope" I murmured, smiling as he withdrew. He moved a step away from me, frowning as he started to glow, before he turned to crystal.

I giggled slightly, before biting my lip. Had I really been like that back when I'd first remembered? I'd given him the Focus to kiss me again.

I moved forwards, kissing his crystalline lips, awaking him as I did so. I removed the brand, freeing him from the crystal, and felt his arms embrace me before I withdrew from the kiss.

We stood like that for what felt like hours. The Surtr and the Guardian Corps doing whatever they were doing elsewhere.

"Going to erase your memories this time?" Hope murmured, seemingly sad.

I stiffened, moving out of his embrace. Was I? Of course I should; fal'Cie mind in a human body. Plus I couldn't face living with the guilt of what I'd done to Garmr. I just…couldn't. Could I?

Wasn't this just the easy way out?

I keep saying I'm human. I keep promising myself that I am human.

So face up to it. Face up to what you are, Asura. Stop running and live, feel, like a human. Humans couldn't do it; and humans had no doubt done unchangeable, irredeemable sins. They couldn't just forget. If they could live with it, then so could I.

My name is Asura, ex-fal'Cie. I am a human. I know that for sure. And I will remember that.

I will remember. How could I claim to be human if I didn't?

"I mean" Hope said, watching me, "it seems a bit of a waste if you're just going to remember every time I kiss you"

"Why? Planning on doing it often?" Ok, I was flirting. I just like seeing him blush.

"Ah, uh-um…" he looked around awkwardly. Mutely, he nodded before blushing again.

"Good" I smiled, stepping towards him, grabbing his jacket and pulling him closer.


End file.
